BBC Documentaries

No Place to Call Home (2015x61)

Air date: Mar 03, 2015

What's it like to be homeless in Britain today - when you are ten years old? BAFTA-winning film-maker Jezza Neumann follows two families for 18 months, from before they are evicted by their private landlords, through over a year in a homeless hostel and months of sofa-surfing with friends and family. Throughout this ordeal 11-year-old Ellie and 10-year-old JJ remain cheerful and resilient, trying to see what they are going through as an adventure that they will one day look back on and laugh about, once they finally have a home they can call their own once again. But we also see the destructive impact that living with such uncertainty has on young lives, as this film brings to life before our eyes the dry statistics about how children's education, their physical and mental health, and their future chances in life all suffer as a result of homelessness and eviction. Record numbers of low-income tenants are being evicted by private landlords. As a result over 80,000 children are now living in temporary housing in the UK, three quarters of them in London. This sensitive film brings home just how destructive that experience can be.