A change in negative media coverage of tenants is desperately needed if we are to address the housing crisis in Wales, says Samantha Shaw.
The negative portrayal of social housing tenants by some of the media in programmes like Benefits Street, Skint and How to Get A Council House is in my opinion tantamount to collective defamation.
Television programming needs drama to be interesting and engaging, therefore television producers seek out the most unusual social housing residents and represent them as the norm.
The distorted lens of the majority of cheap reality TV seeks out the most problematic tenants to ensure dramatic content.
This misrepresents the vast majority of tenants and residents of social housing.
Disparaging terms such as CHAVs (which should mean Council Housed and Volunteering, not Violent), sink estates and underclasses are ground into our vocabulary and into the collective psyche.
The fact is that social housing tenants are ordinary people living their lives, working and raising families and are far more often than not, valuable assets to our communities is rarely, if ever, depicted in the media.
Contrary to popular misconceptions the vast majority of people living in social housing are actually employed, many are doing good deeds, volunteering for charities and involved in local initiatives that benefit their communities.
As housing allocations are prioritised to the most vulnerable applicants it is inevitable that a small percentage of the applicants will exhibit challenging or anti-social behaviours that are reflected throughout society in general.
The sell-off of our council housing stock and home ownership were championed by Margaret Thatcher’s government with the
Right to Buy policy (recently revoked in Wales) instilled a general belief that we all ought to aspire to own our own homes.
The attitude that home ownership is the ideal, combined with a lack of affordable housing leaves many social tenants feeling as though they are a failure for not owning their own homes, as if we should have worked harder or been more ambitious.
The negative depiction and language used to describe social housing tenants in some of the TV and tabloid media can be internalised, with people feeling judged or disadvantaged by their postcode.
The stigmatising media portrayal of crumbling estates, full of unemployed layabouts, riddled with drugs and crime needs to be challenged and more realistic and fair depictions of the real lives of most social housing tenants are needed.
There is a massive housing crisis in Wales, with a huge increase in homelessness and thousands of people in overcrowded or unsuitable accommodation on Housing waiting lists.
A huge amount of social housing development is urgently needed but considering all the negative press the social housing tenant receives it is not surprising that the number of planning objections has soared!
Everyone agrees we need more housing but Not In My Back Yard is often the response to new social housing developments due in part to a skewed received idea that the new houses’ occupants will be a detriment to the area.
A survey by One Poll commissioned by the Federation of Master Builders recently revealed that two thirds of NIMBYs who object to new housing development in their area are simultaneously frustrated that the next generation cannot afford to buy their own home. Much investment is also needed to improve the existing social housing stock, to redevelop and improve the quality of the accommodation, where possible to maximise the potential of the every property and plot.
How can councils and housing associations get consent to build the desperately needed affordable homes if planning is rejected due in part to the NIMBYs’ negative perceptions, perpetuated by some of the media for cheap ‘poverty porn’ reality TV?
The Welsh Government, social housing providers, town planners and housing developers have a responsibility to build high quality affordable homes for our future generations, this process is being stalled by NIMBY-ism.
In order to ameliorate planning objections, part of the developments need to provide a range of local facilities that are of benefit to the wider community, such as new schools, shops, parks and community centres.
A change of how social housing tenants are depicted in the media is desperately needed…one that views socially housed tenants through a more positive lens, not rose coloured but clear.
Samantha Shaw is currently a school parent governor, festival organiser and on the Scrutiny Panel at Taff Housing and is formerly a community radio presenter