Behind the scenes

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Behind the scenes

Behind the scenes

Community input

Our film, “A place to call home”, is a special project to us.

Before making the film, director Elle came to meet our Advisory Board: former clients who use their experience of housing crisis and homelessness to help shape our service.

They shared the emotional toll of housing insecurity, expressing how they felt before our help – scared, isolated, and unseen.

Elle then used their invaluable insight to help create our new film.

A scene from our short film. There is a man looking lovingly at his young daughter in the bed. The bed itself looks very cosy. The bed is placed in a multi-storey car park in Bristol. The background is the central Bristol skyline at dusk.

The meaning behind the film

Each scene starts with a person or family enjoying nice moments in their home – putting on make-up, having a bed time story, cosied up on the sofa, or eating dinner around the table.

Everything looks peaceful and homely – until the zoom out which reveals the happy homes are in fact sat in the middle of the cold, concrete backdrops of the city.

This was the capture the pervasive impact of housing insecurity on people – a constant anxiety that bleeds into all aspects of someone’s life. 

No matter how hard they try to keep things ‘normal’, there’s a feeling of being unsafe underlying every moment.

Then, we see there’s no zoom-out for the family eating dinner. It shows the contrast of what having “a place to call home” can feel like.

A scene from the film: A woman and man sat on a sofa watching the TV. A lot of the backdrop is showing: a pavement, construction barriers, a black rubbish bag. It's dark in the street.
A scene from the film: A young woman looking at her self in the mirror. You can see the walls of the carpark building behind around the edges of the image.
A scene from the film: A man reading a story to his young daughter in bed. You can see a bit of the car park railing in the background.

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Our partners for the film

The Santander Foundation funded a partnership between Housing Matters and the Media Trust – an organisation that helps charities communicate their impact using creative media.

Via the Media Trust, we worked with Elle Dimond, a director who donated her time and creativity to help us to convey the impact housing insecurity.

We also had support from Skylark Media and Amy Walpole for the film’s production.

We’re so grateful to everyone involved. And thank you to jack Ford for the ‘behind the scenes’ photographs.

Safa’s story

The stress of housing insecurity

Safa was a single mum to her teenage son and a full-time carer for her disabled mother, who was bed-bound and required a hoist to move around. 

Devastatingly, the family had just been served a Section 21 eviction notice – where a landlord can evict without reason – and they couldn’t find anywhere else suitable for the grandmother’s needs.

They were about to become homeless. Feeling very scared, Safa reached out to Housing Matters. 

We helped her apply to the council for housing support. The council found they had a duty to house the family in temporary accommodation but didn’t have any properties available suitable for their needs. 

So we helped the family get into the highest priority group for accessing social housing. With long waiting lists, this is hard to achieve in Bristol, but we pushed for it because of the family’s vulnerable situation. 

A black and white photo of the back of a woman. She is looking over a river.

It would give them the best chance of being rehoused before the bailiffs tried to evict them. We also managed to delay the eviction by bailiffs three times – buying them more time.

Meanwhile, the council didn’t attempt to find the family suitable temporary accommodation, despite their legal duty to do so. 

We had no choice but to refer Safa for legal aid (free legal support for people on low incomes) in preparation to take the council to court. We also raised the issue with the Senior Management Team at the council.  

To everyone’s relief, this led to an offer of accommodation and legal action wasn’t needed. Safa was feeling hopeful but, unfortunately, the property wasn’t suitable for the grandmother’s needs.  

The stress was getting too much for Safa. She was all too aware of the toll this was taking on all of them, especially her vulnerable mum. 

But we stuck with the family throughout and, using our expertise, helped Safa formally challenge the council on the property’s suitability.  

It worked. Safa was so relieved. They were given more suitable temporary accommodation and are feeling much more stable now. 

We also ensured they remained the highest priority for accessing social housing. They’re currently applying for properties and can’t wait to have a permanent, suitable, and affordable home soon. 

Quote reads: ...I couldn't have done all this on my own...I’m grateful to be in a place where there’s no worry about getting kicked out...Thank you very, very much for all your help..."

Keep in the loop with our work.

Stay updated

Hear our clients’ stories and keep in the loop with our work across Bristol.

Update me every 3 months

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See what we’re up to at the moment – follow us on social media.

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