Britain’s Housing Crisis is powered by rage. It is a long time since I have seen a documentary so nakedly angry, so clear in its point of view and unabashed about standing by it. Which is not to say it is unbalanced. The makers’ fury has made it meticulous in the use of governmental and other sources to explain policies – along with the thinking behind decisions whose detrimental effects are predicted and attested to by activists and workers from charities such as Shelter. If the subject were not people being made homeless by underinvestment in social housing and mismanagement of the property market by successive governments, plus the greed and corruption of some housebuilders, you would be tempted to buy popcorn and settle down to enjoy the cathartic rush.
As it is, the two-part film will have you nodding in bitter recollection before that gives way to open-mouthed incredulity. By the end of the second hour (which covers the right-to-buy bill, the leasehold homes scandal and assorted other measures of venality by the various powers who hold the happiness of ordinary people in their grasping hands), your head will be bowed in despair.
