The London housing market has become an absurdist sport. The game is rigged

A new series of short films – More Than One Story – exploring why people become homeless has been made by Cardboard Citizens, a charity that uses drama to transform the lives of those with lived experience of homelessness, in association with Black Apron Entertainment. Each film is written and performed by people who have experienced homelessness.  

This week’s film puts the spotlight on the ‘rigged game’ of the rental and housing market. The lead character Jackie is part of a focus group examining attitudes towards ‘the homeless’, but little does the group know they have an expert in their midst. Snakes and Landlords is written by Debbie Hannan, who is associate director at National Theatre of Scotland.

‘The precarity stays with you’

Snakes and Landlords comes from me getting tired of playing a rigged game. 

It was born of my frustration with the London housing market – how it has become an absurdist sport, where an unchecked landlord class rules and renters scrabble for scraps. The game is always fixed – no amount of strategy, perseverance or hard work can beat the reality that you need significant wealth to access safe and secure housing, and that those in power are benefitting from this structure. 

I also wanted to represent those who have experienced homelessness in their past, and now carry a unique expertise as a result. People who have since done some active integrating into the blissfully ignorant middle class: those who, like Jackie, have stealthed their way into “passing”, whether that meant softening an accent or life experience. 

Both Jackie and I have been deeply shaped by our pasts, and the resulting knowledge is that the world isn’t as reliable or generous as those who are now around us might assume. I’ve spent a lot of time editing myself into a more palatable version, but the precarity stays with you – Jackie is never climbing the same ladder as those around her, and the snakes will cause her to fall much further.

The shift for me was when I embraced my life as having its own kind of valuable knowledge. By refusing the assumptions and toxic pity, and stopping playing a game that was never meant for you, then, like Jackie, you can find a more authentic strength. 

The last government abandoned authenticity to play a dicey game with words – through so many meaningless promises, they diminished truth as a civic value and made political “spin” everyday. Complex issues were reduced to three-word slogans, half-lies and branding exercises. I wanted to highlight the nightmarish absurdity of a political system which, instead of fully addressing societal problems, simply rebrands them.

The last government represented the interests of landlords with enthusiasm – not only politically, but directly, as many MPs were landlords themselves. The Conservative manifesto in 2019 promised an end to Section 21 “no-fault” evictions. Originating under Thatcher in 1988, Section 21 enables private landlords to end shorthold tenancies without giving a reason.

The promised Renters Reform Bill was delayed, heavily diluted by backbench Tories and eventually scrapped in May after the election was announced – meanwhile, the number of no-fault evictions in London went up by 52%. Our last government’s lists of ‘promises that didn’t quite make it’ is startling, but their failure in housing is outstanding. 

However, the King’s Speech on 17 July delivered Labour’s key promises on housing, including a commitment to “give greater rights and protections to people renting their homes, including ending no-fault evictions”. My challenge to this new government is to mean what they say. They must go beyond merely building new homes and focus on actively dismantling systemic inequities. Only then can we hope to restore any fairness or morality to this rigged game.

Debbie Hannan is associate director at the Theatre of Scotland.

Cardboard Citizens introduces Yvonne Wickham

In Snakes and Landlords, Jackie is played by Yvonne Wickham, a freelance actor and writer who trained at Middlesex University. She is of mixed heritage, originally from Liverpool.

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