UK
Isobel Molloy
Bry Francisco
Grace Oldman
Faisa Awow
Christopher Potts
Adrian Carosama Corella
Over 700,000 homes in England are unfurnished and empty, with another 300,000 used as holiday short-lets and second homes. Meaning that 1 in 25 empty propertied in England could be used to provide much-needed homes. Action on Empty Homes (AEH), a charitable organisation, collaborated with Anglia Ruskin University’s Illustration and Animation students, who worked in groups to produce five short films highlighting different aspects of how this wasted housing stock could be recycled to help address the UK’s chronic housing crisis. AEH worked closely with the university staff to provide a nurturing environment for students.
The films set out to meet five briefs provided by Action on Empty Homes. The aim was for the films to be used by the charitable organisation on social media and other platforms to inform the public about their work and values, and to encourage people to get involved in action against empty homes. The films explored the following themes: General Explainer about Empty Homes in England; Limiting and Regulating Holiday / Short Lets; Recycling Empty Homes; Stop Building Empty Homes and the Environmental Perspective. This addressed issues such as building housing for profit rather than use, the value of retrofitting empty homes and the decreasing supply of homes in the context of a massive increase in holiday lets. The young people were briefed to create films appealing to other young people who are at the heart of the current housing crisis. They were also encouraged to present the issue of empty homes as a solution, as well as a problem, and to direct the viewer to the Action on Empty Homes website to find out more or get involved.
This was a Live Project, a collaborative enterprise between university staff and students from Anglia Ruskin University (ARU) and Action on Empty Homes (AEH). The brief was developed over time between the course leaders and the charitable organisation and then launched to the students through a hybrid meeting. AEH presented the briefs and invited questions in an encouraging and inclusive atmosphere that valued the young people's specific perspectives and skills. The students each submitted individual pitches, each of which received constructive personal feedback from AEH, who also selected five to go forward for production. The students worked in teams, with support from staff and AEH. This included working on coherence across the films in terms of colour, design and sound. The teams were selected by staff with care to draw on students' strengths to ensure everyone had a positive role to play, with attention to how the students worked well independently and with others. The students then presented the draft films in another hybrid meeting, open to final comments from AEH and with a celebratory atmosphere.
This collaboration was a wonderful project in that it reached out from the charitable organisation to a new cohort of young people, which both shared understanding of our (AEH) work and valued the contribution the students made. We learned that planning ahead through close liaison with the staff provided an efficient and flowing process. Central to the approach was the care and support we aimed to give the students throughout, being thoughtful in providing constructive verbal and written feedback. As an academic focusing on housing and communities, I have worked with filmmakers before to disseminate findings to wider audiences in accessible ways; but this was the first time that I had done so in my public-facing role as a trustee of a charitable organisation. This was extremely rewarding both in terms of the collaboration and care undertaken during the project amongst the participants, but also because there was an immediate practical application of the films, using knowledge in an active way to serve campaigning purposes. AEH are using the films to engage new audiences, including young people, to highlight the lesser-known role that empty homes play in the housing crisis. From the point of view of the students, the project was important in being supported by the university's employability department. The key challenge in setting up the production was negotiating the dynamics and range of abilities within the student groups. Whilst the students reported that challenges for them included time pressures, as the project was delivered within a six-week time frame, and issues around communication and inputting individual contributions to deadlines. These issues were addressed by encouragement and support by staff at ARU throughout the process. Later, the challenges were more about ensuring the key messages were communicated effectively and accurately, which we addressed by screening the films for final feedback from AEH at the draft stage.