Cruel Summer: Housing, Inequality, & Injustice

09/27/23 • 43 min

1 Listener

Welcome to Season 7 of Pushback Talks! It's been an eventful summer, as nations worldwide grappled with the housing and climate crises, and people took to the streets to protest wealth inequality and the rapidly rising cost of living. In this highly anticipated season premiere, we join Fredrik and Leilani for a one-on-one conversation about their work to push back against the injustices of our time and how their mission adapts as the situation develops.
In this premiere episode, Fredrik and Leilani engage in a candid conversation that peels back the layers of the housing crisis as it relates to student housing, the climate crises, and the social contract. What actions can be taken right now to mitigate the crises? The episode underscores the critical need for accountability from both governments and private entities in addressing these far-reaching housing issues.

Join us for an engaging Season 7 premiere that deepens our understanding of the how the housing crisis is developing, and stay tuned for an exciting lineup of episodes that will inspire action, promote change, and illuminate the path toward a more just and equitable world.

Support the show

Support the show

Previous Episode

Summer Series: The Vulture Ate My Student Housing

This year's summer series is coming to a close! We did things a little differently this year, revisiting some of our favorite episodes from across all six seasons, and giving you updates on the guests and topics at the top of each episode.
No matter where you are - we hope you enjoy the final episode of the 2023 Summer Series!
Students the world over head to university filled with hopes and dreams for the future. But to pursue those dreams requires secure housing and that’s where the nightmare begins. The co-hosts swap stories of student life in London, Lagos, Dublin, Seoul, and Toronto. Students are working multiple jobs to pay the rent, lobbying for the right to sleep in their cars, experiencing sexual coercion, spending hours commuting back and forth each day, and worrying about the debt they’re accruing. Just when they should be stepping into the world with energy and strength, they are being beaten down.
Lower-income students have less time to study and are leaving university with crippling debt loads, creating new patterns of inequality. The Filmmaker and the Advocate discuss one of the central drivers of these conditions: student housing has become one of the hottest commodities around. It's being scooped up by global vulture funds including ... you guessed it ... Blackstone. This episode will make you angry and should make all of us want to push back so young people can dream again.
In recent days, the story has only gotten worse. In cities around the world, university students are facing homelessness, with many staging protests against universities that accept them without providing a proper and affordable place to stay. In Turkey, Canada, and beyond, students are pushing back against untenable housing conditions.

Support the show

Next Episode

Chris Smalls is Living Rent Free in Jeff Bezos' Head

What is it that makes a worker essential? This is the question that Chris Smalls and hundreds of thousands of Amazon workers had to ask as they found themselves working long hours in unsafe conditions at the height of the pandemic, having been deemed 'essential.' But when Chris, who was responsible for training thousands of other employees and upper management, organized a protest for better work conditions he was immediately terminated and told he wasn't articulate enough to be the face of efforts to unionize. Chris responded by pushing it further, creating the Congress of Essential Workers and, eventually, the Amazon Labor Union.
Chris joins Fredrik and Leilani to discuss the intense amount of work it took to create the union, the power of challenging the system as his authentic self, and proving those who underestimated him dead wrong.
Support the Amazon Labor Union. You can see more about Chris's fight to create the Amazon Labor Union in Fredrik's latest film, Breaking Social.

Support the show