
Housing: A Human Right or Big Business?
Housing is a constitutional right in both Mexico and Canada, yet in both countries the market is pushing people out of their homes. In Mexico City, Mary Paz Ramirez Valenzuela faces eviction after twenty years in her apartment because her landlords can earn more renting to American digital nomads through Airbnb. She confronts blogger Kesi Irvin, one of the newcomers, telling her that tourists like her are "kicking us out of our spaces." In Vancouver, the Squamish Nation is building thousands of rental units at Senakw and the Jericho Lands, sites on their traditional territory from which they were displaced a century ago; leader Wilson Williams frames the towers as both reparation and income. Neighbor Bill Tieleman campaigns against the density even while conceding the city needs more housing. Filmed in both cities with direct interviews and on-the-street confrontations, the film sets gentrification, indigenous land rights, and housing policy against each other without settling which side is right.