PDA’s ‘Evicting the American Dream’ to premiere March 30 in Dayton, Ohio
Project explores systemic issues and insidious practices that weigh on families and children in need of housing
LOUISVILLE — The harsh realities and simple yearnings of children living in a homeless shelter drive home the urgency of “Evicting the American Dream,” a powerful new documentary from Counter Stories Productions.
The documentary, which is intended to be a resource and conversation starter, will have its formal premiere Sunday in Dayton, Ohio, and is expected to be a catalyst for change. A resource guide is available to accompany the film, so screening attendees can leave with a list of action items.
“I don't know how you can't get fired up after seeing this, and I think the genius is highlighting the stories of the children and hearing it from their perspectives,” said the Rev. Denise Anderson, director of Compassion, Peace & Justice ministries for the Interim Unified Agency. “It really is the embodiment of listening to voices long silenced, and who is more silenced in our systems than children?”
More than 400 people have registered to watch the premiere of the documentary, which delves into systemic issues and insidious practices that can lead to families being forced out of their homes and make it harder for them and others to secure new housing.
“The voices amplified in this documentary bring up a fundamental question for all of us: Why do we continue to develop and support systems in this country that do not prioritize our children?” said Director David Barnhart of Counter Stories Productions, which is part of Presbyterian Disaster Assistance. “Recent statistics have shown that a record number of children face homelessness in the U.S., and we hope that Presbyterians can join these voices to speak out, engage locally in their communities, and be a part of the movement for change.”
Dr. Katherine Rowell, a sociology professor at Sinclair Community College who co-produced the documentary with the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), agreed that eviction and homelessness are topics that faith-based communities can rally around.
“Eviction is a preventable problem with education and action,” she said. “People are being evicted for very small dollar amounts.”
“Evicting the American Dream” was filmed in Dayton, where community partners helped to lead and shape the project.
“All of our work is rooted in relationships and listening, and we don't go (into a community) with an agenda,” Barnhart said during a preview screening at the Presbyterian Center in Louisville. “We de-center ourselves and let the community partners guide us.”
Rowell brought the idea of making the film to Barnhart after they got to know each other in 2017 through the Dayton Film Forum, which featured some of his prior documentaries, “Locked in a Box” and “To Breathe Free.” For Rowell, “Evicting the American Dream” is a form of public sociology and part of her life’s work.
Early on, “I started volunteering at a shelter in Dayton, and at that time, Ronald Reagan was president, and there was a bunch of federal cuts,” Rowell said. “It's a little bit painful for me as a sociologist and someone who was trying to effect change to realize that the problem is worse in some ways (today). … The fact that we're seeing increases in (homeless) women and children is disturbing to me.”
One of the issues highlighted by the documentary is that an eviction filing can be like a scarlet letter ‘E’ that is so feared that some renters, just to avoid it, will endure substandard, dangerous housing or a shelter.
Though landlords tend to have legal representation, people facing eviction often do not, making it harder for them to defend themselves, the documentary notes. The blemish of having the “E” on their record can make it difficult for the renter to get a new place and can even follow the household’s children into adulthood, Rowell said.
“Evicting the American Dream” also provides a historical look at redlining, a practice that prevented people living in certain areas or neighborhoods (usually African Americans or immigrants) from having the same access to loans and other credit services as whites.
“Clearly, this is not a problem just for Black folks but knowing the way that it targeted Black and brown people was particularly heartbreaking,” Anderson said, following the Louisville screening.
The documentary is coming out at a time when many people are concerned about the direction of the country, the ravages of poverty and racism, and the dearth of affordable housing.
“Systemically, the current corporate takeover of our federal government mirrors the dominance of a few institutional investors who dominate the housing industry,” Barnhart said. “Using algorithms, profit margins, and spreadsheets as their guide, these few corporate landlords have pushed the ‘American Dream’ of a single-family home out of reach for so many families. Collectively, we will all have to stand up to this wider corporate dominance and privatization that will only benefit the few and devastate our communities.”
Grassroots interest in the documentary has been strong. Early previews drew requests for screenings from Ohio to California. Organizations that have expressed interest in holding screenings include the Fair Housing Alliance, Advocates for Basic Legal Equality (ABLE), the ACLU, the University of Dayton, and the Coalition on Homelessness and Housing in Ohio, which wants to share it through the National Low Income Housing Coalition and the National Alliance to End Homelessness. Also, several college, medical school and university educators want to use the film in their curriculum or training for medical students, social work students, and staff who work at shelters.
“I feel incredibly proud and incredibly grateful to be able to have this aspect of mission interpretation lodged within Compassion, Peace and Justice and within Presbyterian Disaster Assistance,” Anderson said. “This is a particular ministry that drives home the impact of human-caused disasters and how churches, how communities, can lean into that.”
To get more information about the premiere, learn more about the documentary, and watch the trailer, go here.
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