A Big Step Forward
Social Homes for Manchester are pleased to announce that Manchester City Council (MCC) passed a motion last Wednesday 16 July to increase social and affordable housing targets in the city.
Moving away from the 2012 policy where only 5% of new housing developments of 15 homes or above had to be social or affordable rents; MCC have now voted for a new set of targets under which 21% of new housing developments of 10 homes or above must be social rent.
The original motion was brought by the Lib Dems after a Green Party amendment to a motion in February 2025 endorsing Social Homes for Manchester’s ask for 30% social rent was not agreed by council.
The new city policy will require 30% of all new housing developments of ten homes or more to be ‘affordable housing’ of which 21% should be social rent homes, a further 3% is to be Manchester Living Rent (which means within the Local Housing Allowance threshold), and 6% is to be low-cost home ownership options.
The new targets were a key focus of discussion at the Manchester Social Housing Commission on Thursday when Community Commissioners from Miles Platting, Hulme, Moss Side, and Wythenshawe thanked Executive Member for Housing and Development Cllr Gavin White and all elected members for listening to community concerns on the housing crisis:
“Last year when I walked in this room, I just thought no, it’s just going to be a load of talk, and nothing is going to change. But listening to the discussion around this table now, I just can’t thank you enough for all the hard work that you all do. Thank you on behalf of all the residents, and all the communities.” Zoe Marlow, Wythenshawe Central Network.
Councillor Gavin White said:
“We were pleased to see the council giving unanimous support for our view that 30% of our housing delivery should be affordable with 70% of this being for social rent. We all want to see more social, council, and genuinely affordable housing in our city, to tackle the housing and homelessness we face.
It has been good to engage with and listen to the social housing commission over the last year and ensure that our ongoing response and strategy as a council is truly ambitious to meet the needs of our city.
We are pleased to see the recent announcements by the Labour government of £39bn for new social and affordable housing over the next 10 years, with 60% of that being for social rent – we are already in discussions with government about how we can help with the accelerated delivery of these new social and affordable homes in Manchester.”
Next steps
The local plan with these revised targets and policies will be subject to an 8-week public consultation from mid-September 2025. While recognising this big step forward for the city in addressing the housing crisis, for Community Commissioners and the Social Homes for Manchester coalition, concerns remain about what this will mean in practice.
1. The evidence tells us that 32% of new build homes must be for social rent to address the housing crisis across GM.
Robust research into the housing crisis across England provides clear evidence that we need to deliver 32% social rent across Greater Manchester.[i] The Commission’s own evidence highlights the cost savings social rent achieves for government and how social rent is the only tenure that can address the crisis of more than 4,500 children in Temporary Accommodation and nearly 20,000 households on the waiting list for a social home in Manchester.
2. There is a groundswell of political will to build higher levels of social rent, and this is reflected in large increases in national grant.
21% social rent is a big step forward that should be celebrated, but we know that what we really need in Manchester is a minimum target of at least 30% social rent. MCC have been making great progress towards building higher levels of social rent even before Rachel Reeves announcement of £39 billion for social and affordable housing, and Angela Raynor’s follow up call for 60% of the homes delivered to be for social rent.
One example is the development of 69 low carbon homes with 100% available for social rent. Another is the planned development on the former Boddingtons site which is set to include 60% affordable housing including 22% social rent with 55% of this funded through grant and 5% funded through Section 106 contributions.
With such a significant increase in national investment and so much political support for social rent delivery at national and city-regional level, why not aim higher?
3. Developers must pay their share
Increased grant rate should not be an excuse for private developers making millions of pounds in profit to avoid a fair contribution to public benefit in the city.
Our comparative table of a range of English cities shows that historically in Manchester developers have been given a free ride when it comes to making contributions for social rent delivery.
In addition to adopting a minimum requirement of social rent homes on all new housing developments of ten units or more, MCC have the power to set a percentage of social rent homes onsite of every new development, which then puts the onus on the developer to demonstrate through transparent viability if this is not possible. It also gives the local authority more weight in the decision.
This would help avoid viability loopholes that many local areas see when negotiating with big developers via Section 106/planning obligation agreements.
Developer contributions could also be used to retrofit existing poor quality/poorly insulated social homes on a case-by-case basis, which would, where implemented, mitigate damp and mould, bring down energy bills, and reduce carbon emissions.
4. Increased Planning capacity, transparency, and accountability
To maximise the delivery of ecologically sustainable social rent homes we need increased investment in funding for local authority planning departments and capacity building and training for local Planning Committees (something Oxford City Council have done to positive effect).
The Manchester Social Housing Commission are advocating in partnership with others across the country for the protection of community voice and the voice of elected members in planning decisions through the retention of powers of local Planning Committees.
These committees and our Planning Officers need training and capacity building to enable them to understand the complexity of planning issues; to hold developers to account for their obligations; and to implement and enforce planning conditions through to the end of a development process.
All too often developers negotiate their way out of the conditions placed on their planning applications citing a lack of profitability using ‘viability assessments’ compiled by expensive planning consultants.
This must end, and Commissioners continue to work with Lords and MPs to push Government to recognise that they must close the viability loophole and invest in local authority planning departments to ensure they have the expertise, time, and resources to hold developers to account.
Locally, Social Homes for Manchester are asking MCC for a new set of Planning Transparency pages on their website to enable communities to search by ward and at city-scale for local area data on housing need; active planning applications; and levels of social rent requested and delivered through both Section 106 and other forms of investment.
Manchester residents: please sign up to join the SH4M mailing list here.
Ward councillors: please make your pledge to demonstrate your support for a target of 30% social rent on all new developments of ten homes or more.
Manchester-based organisations: please demonstrate your organisation’s support for the six asks of the SH4M coalition – join the coalition here.
Our six asks:
- At least 30% social rent in all new developments of over 10 units.
- Stronger scrutiny and public accountability for the setting and enforcement of Section 106 developer obligations and to focus these contributions on the delivery of ecologically sustainable homes for social rent.
- Establish a Commission on social rent housing for Manchester.
- Develop a practical strategy for how to increase delivery of Community Led Housing and other community-led facilities including from donations of council-owned land.
- Develop a practical strategy for the renovation and transfer of empty homes into sustainable homes for social rent.
- Ensure all new build homes of any type or tenure are ecologically sustainable.
The Commission referred to under (3.) already exists and Commissioners are working hard to explore the evidence base and develop recommendations. You can read more about this at: https://www.socialhomes4mcr.org.uk/commission.
[i] Bramley, G. (2024: p.69), Housing Requirements in England Revisited. Heriott-Watt University https://pure.hw.ac.uk/ws/portalfiles/portal/113960635/Bramley_G._HOUSING_REQUIREMENTS_IN_ENGLAND_REVISITED.pdf
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Savings, Spaces, and Solidarity: Community Savers in 2024
Savings, Spaces, and Solidarity: Community Savers in 2024
We have worked together with Nifty Sustainability CIC on an in depth look at what Community Savers affiliates and partnerships are achieving through our community action with a focus on 2024. Below is an abridged version of sections from Nifty’s excellent independent evaluation report – its a great read!
Download our 2024 Impact Evaluation here
Inputs
Community Savers members and leaders bring their time and expertise, life experience, willingness and enthusiasm to the alliance, and CLASS works hard to ensure these are valued and meaningful. CLASS supports Community Savers to develop capacity, knowledge and skills. CLASS nurtures community leaders and creates social and strategic spaces for reflection, learning and relationship building such as the annual retreat. The Community Savers–CLASS alliance is genuinely effective with transparent and authentic leadership and co-governance structures. CLASS also bring a helpful legitimacy to the groups, as well as technical support.
“CLASS come to you. There are other charities out there that support people, but you have to go to them. What’s happened with CLASS is that they meet on your patch, listen to what you need, don’t parachute in, and help you to see that you’ve got the skills amongst you, you’re the experts in the field and it’s just about bringing that voice out really.” Leader interview
Action
Community Savers and CLASS are leading on a variety of innovative activities. However, the building blocks remain the women-led and community-based savings clubs. These are an adaptation of a 30-year strong social movement called Shack/Slum Dwellers International. Stemming from and galvanised by the savings groups, there were no shortage of precedent-setting projects, partnerships, neighbourhood networks and campaigns to explore including Ageing Well in Place in Hulme, Miles Platting Community and Age-Friendly Network, Women of Wythenshawe, and Social Homes for Manchester. These are all underpinned by community priorities and participation and facilitated by CLASS and partners. In addition, community-led learning exchanges lead to knowledge sharing, capacity building and new relationships.
Outcomes
The alliance of Community Savers and CLASS, their approach and their activities are leading to a range of positive outcomes at the individual, neighbourhood, and city-regional scale, which would not otherwise be possible.
Members have more savings, less debt, more resilience to financial shocks
The number of affiliated Community Savers groups/neighbourhood networks remained at 8 in 2024 during a period when CLASS was also coordinating community action of nine member groups in the Women of Wythenshawe network. The numbers of individuals and leaders increased, as did savings turnover both in terms of deposits and withdrawals.
61% of members survey respondents said they would have spent the money they saved through the savings club on other things, and many of these said they would have wasted it on ‘rubbish’ and things they didn’t need and that the savers groups were valuable in reducing this. 52% of members survey respondents said that being a member of their savings group had changed the way they think about how to manage money.
“I’ve never saved before I joined the Dandelion Savers. For more than 2 yrs now, I’ve realised how you can save money. I have £1000 in savings now.”
Leaders have increased skills, employment and personal development opportunities
It is clear from the data that being involved in Community Savers and CLASS work is leading to positive impacts around knowledge and skills, and personal development opportunities. Throughout 2024, Community Savers and Women of Wythenshawe leaders engaged in ongoing skills development from the basics for running local groups like financial management and accounting; health and safety; first aid; and building an inclusive approach for people with diverse needs; to safeguarding, mental health and neurodiversity; and understanding incorporation.
Members have improved mental and physical health
These impacts were reportedly as a result of, for example, having somewhere to go, people to meet, speak to and share problems with, and feeling accepted as part of a community.
“I used to be a recluse and didn’t come out of my flat for 10 years and then I found out about this place and started coming here 7 months ago. If i don’t come here for a week, then come the week after, people say ‘where’ve you been?’ It’s nice to know you’ve been missed.” Savings club member
“I would like to say a massive thanks to Wow for giving us the opportunity to learn new skills that will help us grow and helping us believe that we can make a difference, and to empower us to encourage and inspire others to do the same. WoW is the best thing that has happened to Wythenshawe. Together we are stronger.” Women of Wythenshawe Leader
Increased access to community facilities
The importance of community spaces and facilities came through strongly and some important milestones were reached in 2024 around spaces that Community Savers and CLASS are involved with.
Mums’ Mart finally signed the lease on a derelict caretakers flat in a local church enabling the renovation to get underway. The space was co-designed by local mums and will be free to use for local women’s groups for the next ten years. Miles Platting Community & Age-friendly Network have successfully registered a new CIO, in partnership with St Cuthberts C of E Parochial Church Council, called St Cuthberts Communities Together with a joint vision for a multipurpose faith and community hub. And in Hulme, One Manchester are renovating a 3-bedroom ground floor flat and a caretakers room into tenant-governed community spaces for residents of Hopton Court and Meredith Court tower blocks.
“This community has been stripped of all its assets – the swimming pool, the library, you name it, it’s gone. But now we’ve got so much hope that through St Cuthberts Communities Together we can have a space where we can socialise, worship, maybe space for the NHS, maybe some housing. Big plans! And CLASS helped support us with that” Leader interview – MPCAN
Women of Wythenshawe
The Women of Wythenshawe network is doing amazing work and being part of the network is having positive impacts on people’s confidence to act on their ideas. Groups and organisations are working together more which means signposting can be effective between groups and services. WoW have united around four priority areas for community action on gendered poverty – domestic abuse, women-led social enterprise, SEND education and social housing provision.
“CLASS have done something very unique I think. Because they have spoken to the local women about what the needs are. So, you know the big ones are housing, disability, domestic violence, and they’ve looked at those and it’s three separate groups because it’s three separate issues. However, they’re all interconnected but you almost can’t have this big umbrella of going ‘right let’s deal with them all’ because every one takes such a lot of knowledge, experience, time. So, by having the three and then pulling them together we can all help each other. So, the housing team are fighting for better housing and accommodation for disability but also for women fleeing DV… So we’re all working together” Partner interview
The work on housing was a catalyst for the development of Wythenshawe Central Network which has become the legacy structure for Women of Wythenshawe. Wythenshawe Central decided to affiliate with the wider Community Savers network in October 2024.
“I’m most proud of the connection we have made with so many women in Wythenshawe and the Wythenshawe Central Network that has come out of it. And now we are engaging the community in the development of the town centre. It feels like we are the bridge between the developers and the community and sharing all the information.” Leader interview
Social Homes for Manchester
The Social Homes for Manchester campaign coalition was catalysed by Community Savers mobilisation in 2023 and launched the Manchester Social Housing Commission chaired by the Bishop of Manchester, Dr David Walker, in 2024. The Community Savers leadership felt they had reached a stage of development where they wanted to join their voices together across the city. Together with partners, they have made the following six requests of Manchester City Council:
- At least 30% social homes included in all new developments of over 10 units to be enacted in local policy and enforced through the setting and enforcement of section 106 obligations.
- Stronger public accountability and scrutiny for the setting and enforcement of developer obligations to build new social housing
- Establish a Commission on SocialHousing for the City of Manchester.
- Develop a practical strategy for thepromotion of Community Led Housing.
- Develop a practical strategy for the renovation/transfer of empty homes into homes for social rent.
- Ensure all new developments are climate and nature friendly
Community Commissioners are a core part of the process and include women of different ages from different parts of Manchester and those who have made Manchester their home from different backgrounds. They are the ones who have been organising in their local areas and encouraging people to talk about the issues that are affecting them, and they are shaping the agenda of the Commission for example by making sure housing provider accountability and scrutiny is included alongside increased numbers of social housing. They bring diverse experience and expertise into the room and add weight and legitimacy to the process.
“The fact that we’ve got people from the communities sat on the coalition and the Commission – but particularly the Commission – alongside some incredibly influential individuals. I think that speaks for itself.” Partner interview
Join the mailing list and/or become a member of the coalition here
“I’ve learned where to go, and who to approach, and what to say to the people that we are asking things from, whereas two years ago I wouldn’t have had a clue about any of what we are doing now. I’ve learned how to understand the jargon, how to approach things, how to be in the room with so many highly qualified people, but feel that I belong there which is very important because people like me don’t usually feel they belong in that room.” Leader and Community Commissioner, Wythenshawe
In November, Community Commissioners Thirza of GM Tenants Union and Zoe of Wythenshawe Central and Dandelion Savers gave powerful testimonies in the House of Lords to launch the Commission’s five urgent national policy asks. And residents and community leaders from Hulme, Miles Platting, Moss Side, and Wythenshawe have drawn on several years of local organising as well as more recent community workshops September-December 2024 to draw together local priorities for housing and local development. They presented these priorities to senior officers in Manchester City Council’s Planning department in January 2025 in anticipation of the new Local Plan for Manchester in 2025.
“The booklets we’ve produced have been helpful for when I’m talking to our local members about things in their ward and when social housing projects come up… the Commission has articulated the evidence across the city… I work with all the Councillors to make the case for that. So I think the Social Housing Commission has helped with that evidence.” Commissioner, Manchester City Council
“When someone living in social housing expresses something related to whatever that topic of conversation is, people really switch on and listen because I think most, if not everyone else at the table doesn’t live in social housing and I think it’s important to kind of counterbalance this sort of abstractness of policy by having that real world perspective to ground us.” Commissioner interview
Learning and Next steps
CLASS and Community Savers have carried out extensive reflection and learning together throughout 2024 enabling them to develop a new three year strategic plan which is available for download. This sets out the current organising context they are negotiating and a series of strategic objectives and priorities for 2025-2028.
The Community Savers groups are having positive impacts at member, household and group levels around saving money and building financial resilience, as well as connecting members of the community, reducing isolation and supporting wellbeing. CLASS is meeting these groups ‘where they are’ and working with them to explore relevant opportunities for skills, knowledge and capacity building, which is developing confidence and encouraging members to develop local activities and interventions to make their communities better for those that live there. CLASS is also working hard to develop partnerships with organisations that have shared values around relevant issues such as social housing, domestic abuse and ageing well to focus on progressing these agendas together.
“CLASS have actually pulled together independent groups that were working in silos and brought them together as a unified group.” Partner interview
All the while, ensuring community voices are being meaningfully included in conversations and governance spaces, which is valued across the board.
“I think it’s important that there are groups that can help give a voice to people but also help organise so that in terms of the formal levels of governance locally and nationally there is a place round the table for everyone.” Partner interview
Positive feedback loops are developing whereby Community Leaders feel more confident and empowered through having their voices heard and their place at the table and so are creating and leading more ambitious agendas for change.
“…it’s genuinely innovative, and I genuinely believe that if more communities have this opportunity you could start to see a profound shift in the voice and power and democracy that communities have. But it’s more than that, because the way CLASS do it, they really engage with the council and other services and make these services listen to tenants and engage with tenants. I don’t think you could ever really capture the impact fully of how this approach influences the culture of the sector.” Partner interview
CLASS and Community Savers are delighted with Nifty Sustainability CIC’s evaluation of our work and impacts in 2024! With the chancellor’s announcement of £39 billion for social and affordable housing on 11th June it could be that the hard work of housing justice coalitions across the country may be about to pay off. But the devil will be in the detail. What is needed now are clear targets for what proportion of new build homes will be developed for social rent!
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A Big Step Forward
The Untold Stories of Manchester’s Housing Crisis
Tenants need to join forces across Manchester neighbourhoods. This was the key message arising from SH4M’s first film screening and campaign workshop at St Cuthbert’s church in Miles Platting in February.
This was the first in a programme of events that will take place across the city throughout 2025.
What is the City but the People? is a short film co-created by two inspiring women leaders from Moss Side and Wythenshawe to raise awareness about the urgency of the housing crisis across the city.
MPCAN (Miles Platting Community and Age-friendly Network) were the first coalition to host the SH4M campaign to screen the documentary and raise awareness with their local community about easy and urgent actions they themselves can take to support the collective effort to get more social rent homes delivered across the city.
A key focus of the current work is the new Local Plan which will be published for an 8-week consultation in Summer 2025 by Manchester City Council.
Download our Local Plan Handbook here
Download our Campaign Information booklet here
Planning can be very technical and boring! But if you were ever going to engage in planning this is the policy to wake up to! The Local Plan will determine how much housing, what types of housing, and where housing will be developed across the city for at least the next ten years.
Councillors Carmine Grimshaw and June Hitchen were in attendance and promised to add their pledges in support of our headline campaign ask which is for 30% of all new housing developments of 10 homes or above to be homes for social rent. You can view the full list of which councillors have pledged their support here.
You can invite Social Homes for Manchester to come and fun a film screening and workshop in your local area – just email socialhomes4mcr@gmail.com.
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Launch of the Manchester Social Housing Commission
The Manchester Social Housing Commission held its first meeting in July bringing Community Savers leaders together with cross-sector experts to develop local and national proposals for addressing the housing crisis. The Commission is chaired by the Right Reverend Dr David Walker, Bishop of Manchester and supported by the Social Homes for Manchester campaign.
Community Savers representatives from Collyhurst, Miles Platting, and Wythenshawe advocated for 30% of all new housing developments of ten homes or more to be social rented homes that are climate and nature friendly. They also asked housing sector professionals to stop using the term ‘affordable housing’ and refer to housing for social rent or private rent. Communities often think affordable means social, and it prevents them holding developers and the council to account for building the social homes we need.
Zoe Marlow of Dandelion Savers and Women of Wythenshawe said:
“We need to stop blurring the line between social homes and affordable homes and just say which one is which. People are confused.”
The lack of information provided at a community level about developer obligations, or ‘section 106’ contributions, was also raised and Commissioners discussed the need for a review of viability assessments which developers use to avoid these obligations on grounds of low profitability.
Sue Anya of Miles Platting Community and Age-friendly Network (MPCAN) said:
“We need to know where the section 106 money goes. It doesn’t seem to get invested in the community where construction is happening…We also need to have information much earlier – we never find out what is happening until everything has already been decided.”
Families in lower income areas of the city also depend on their own family and social networks for childcare and social care support but Sheila Davis of MPCAN highlighted how children and grandchildren of existing residents are unable to find a social rental home in the same area and can’t afford escalating private rents. Flats let at “affordable rents” cost 80% of market rent but there is no cap on market rent, so these offer no solution to people working for minimum wage or even the ‘living wage’.
Sheikha Omar of Moss Side Tenants Union called for the complete banning of Section 21 evictions, the application of Freedom of Information legislation to housing associations not just local authorities, an end to the sale of social housing to private equity companies, and better controls on rent increases for both social and private tenants.
The Commission will be making policy proposals to Manchester City Council and to the new national government administration in the coming weeks and will be developing the detail of their recommendations over the next 12 months. Community representatives on the Commission will be working closely with the Social Homes for Manchester campaign coalition to organise neighbourhood-based briefing sessions across the city, raising awareness about housing and planning policy and ways to work with local councillors to secure better outcomes for their local area.
Social Homes for Manchester is a coalition of community associations, charities, think tanks, academics and social justice organisations focused on accelerating the number of social homes that are created in Manchester by 2030 and ensuring this is done in an environmentally sustainable way.
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Spotlight on Miles Platting Savers
Read our interview with Dot, Committee Member at Miles Platting Savers, find out about one of the original groups in the Savers Network that is still going strong!
Can you tell us a bit about Miles Platting Savers? When did you start, where and how
often do you meet? How many members do you have?
About 5 years, we meet once a week at the coffee morning at the Church of the Apostles in
Miles Platting. We have about about 20 regulars and 30 savers in the group. We have a mixture of people who come to coffee morning, young and old.
As a group, what would you say are the main benefits for the individuals who save with
you?
It gives them a bit of extra cash to buy stuff they need, people are saving for uniforms,
Christmas and even holidays. I think most of the time you’re saving for something you think you
can’t have, then you realise if you save a little bit you can. There’s definitely a social side to it.
Most people are part of the coffee and some are visiting the social supermarket and they are
savers too. We definitely go in, have a cup of tea and have a chin wag and a catch up.
Has working with the other groups helped Miles Platting Savers to develop, learn, expand
or do things differently?
I think so, we see how other groups do theirs and then think if it works for us we can have a go.
I think it helps just to talk about what other groups are doing.
As well as the savings group, are Miles Platting Savers involved in any other community
projects and what are the impact of these?
We are members of MPCAN (Miles Platting Community and Age-friendly Network) – there’s loads of stuff going on thinking about the community building, the green spaces. I haven’t been to all the recent meetings due to my health but they let me know what’s happening.
What can we expect to see next from Miles Platting Savers next – does the group have
any plans for the future?
There’s a day trip planned to go to RHS Bridgewater so we can go there together in June. May
Fairweather from Talk about Money is going to come in to teach all ages from children to adults
how to save a bit and where to save. They are trying to get the people who use the community
shop (Social Supermarket at the Apostles) who have got kids to get involved, because I think if
you teach the kids the kids can teach the adults. I think that the Talk about Money sessions will
be a good way to get people to come in with the idea of getting the kids to teach their parents to
do a bit of saving.
To find out more check out the Miles Platting Savers page here: https://communitysavers.net/project/miles-platting-savers/
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Community Savers Leaders visit Kenya
In January 2024 some of our Community Savers members visited the first One World Together summit in Nairobi and took part in a learning exchange.
SDI Kenya hosted One World Together and four community partners – Muungano wa wanavijiji, Community Savers, Raising Futures Kenya, Play It Forward – at their headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya.
Community Savers, Helina and Zoe from Dandelion Savers and Dot from Miles Platting Savers attended and these are some of their reflections on the experiences they had whilst they were there.
Dot
You recently went on the learning exchange to Nairobi…
Can you tell us a bit about who was there, where you visited and the connections you made?
We were there with One World Together and visited the SDI Kenya offices and Play It Forward plus 4 informal settlements, Kibera and Foundation of Hope. We went to a school, it was brilliant. They have just come off the street and may have been involved with crime and violence and have a 7 week course, waking them up to what they can do to turn their lives around.
We spoke to a woman called Christine about their savings group, that was brilliant, she was so great. it’s different there, savings groups are different for them even though there are similarities theirs are so much more powerful because they are working on sanitation and water and healthcare and these are the kind of things we’ve already got and take for granted.
Why do you think community exchanges are important?
We can learn from each other I think that’s really important and it gives you a fire really, you’d see and meet different people and have a different look on stuff that you don’t even think about really because you’ve got everything it wakes you up to realise that we need to start kicking arse to get stuff done. We’ve really got to start kicking arse, in a nice way.
We went to the Raising Futures Kenya training centre
Was there anything you learnt / saw that you want to bring back to your community?
Yes a bit more fight, and because they live in tin shacks and can hear everything that goes on. We have to knock on more doors to get in to find out what is going on in people’s lives. They were horrified to learn that there are people who died in their places in the UK and could be there for weeks or even months and nobody knows. Whereas they live that close together that they know everything and they know everybody’s business.
Did you identify any common challenges between the groups?
Yes it’s about getting people together really you know they have their own ways and they do say if you don’t come to the meetings you won’t be involved in what they are achieving. You can’t expect that if you don’t put anything in to get anything back. What you give you get back, I’ve always said that.
In three words, can you describe the overall experience?
Emotional, exciting and inspiring
Zoe
You recently went on the learning exchange to Nairobi…
Can you tell us a bit about who was there, where you visited and the connections you made?
What stuck with me was the Foundation of Hope and Florence’s Raising Futures Kenya and the Community Savers itself at Muungano wa wanavijiji. I loved everybody and I connected with the women that were there. There was a lady called Emily. She stuck in my heart and she fights for everything her community needs.
Why do you think community exchanges are important?
Mostly it’s the experience, we all have different life experiences and sometimes we look at other peoples problems as not a problem. We were talking and one of the ladies said ‘but you don’t have poverty’ and it was important that I was then able to share my story of my poverty and I said that our poverty isn’t the same but the way we deal with it is the same, we want the same outcome. She then realised you do have poverty over there (in the UK) and I learnt from her ways to deal with poverty. I learned how important that community is and how important it is to never give up. It is really important so we can learn from each other and watch each other grow. Now I’m looking forward to seeing what all the other organisations are going to do and I get to share in that even though I am on the other side of the world. I get to share in the wonderful things they do. I get to see it.
Was there anything you learnt / saw that you want to bring back to your community?
Yes I want to bring back the actual meaning of community. I want to help and include more people and encourage more people. The data collecting was really important for me. I think that’s great because we can do that here in our local community where we are, we can ask people, we can do interviews and find out what people actually do want, not what we think they want and help out in that area.
Did you identify any common challenges between the groups?
Red tape was big one when we want to do so many things but we are having to jump through hoops, all of us felt our governments aren’t working for us and the fact that a lot of us are women so that’s a challenge in itself but they (the Kenyans) are not letting that be a challenge they moving forwards they just don’t stop. I think essentially we all want the same thing. We all want our communities to be better, happier and healthier.
Did you share anything about your group / community / approach that you think was of particular interest to the other communities?
They were fascinated by the food bank side of it, they wanted to learn more about that. I told them about our poverty side of it so that made them feel like it’s not just us. I hope they feel inspired the way I feel inspired.
In three words, can you describe the overall experience?
Educational, inspiring and life-changing.
I feel like my whole perspective on life has changed. I was getting complacent. I was like I can’t change these things so why bother and now I’m like actually it starts with me and it starts with us. We can just sit around waiting for people to do it. I feel like I want to change the world and go to Zambia and Uganda! Talking to Play It Forward they had an example of a young boy who was hitting his Mum and the whole table started crying as that was what I was going through. It was great to know that when mum’s are going through this they are getting support and I feel grateful that Play It Forward were there to help her. It’s so difficult to get the right support to know that it is going on and to know that these mum’s are being helped is amazing. I love everybody.
Helina
You recently went on the learning exchange to Nairobi…
Can you tell us a bit about who was there, where you visited and the connections you made?
This was a fantastic two day conference when One World Together got to know their partner organisations and vice versa, sharing stories of their successes and knowledge gained from running their local community groups.
We visited Muungano wa wanavijiji in Nairobi and Muungano’s Foundation of Hope in Kibera a meeting was organised with the Community Group of women and Leaders, who willing and lively shared their experiences of running a Community group on their Slum Dwellers Settlements and the highs and lows of growing their membership and the 3 years training involved in being an effective community leader.
We visited another Muungano wa Wanavijiji, Nairobi, Kenya. Shack/Slum Dwellers Settlement (Nancy Njoki Wairimu local area/home town), a meeting was organised with the leaders of a Community Groups, both men and women. Again another informative learning exchange took place and the highlight was being informed about the bottom up planning programme called Mukuru Special Planning Area.
Then we also went to Huruma and were shown around the homes that the community are building for each other. We were shown around one of the Muungano members homes. In all purposes it was a modest home, filled with modest equipment, yet amazing to see in all in glory, as this was a home build by the Muungano community members , (through community savings) including the making of building blocks from cement to build the walls, in partnership with Nairobi County Government and Muungano. With planning permission the people/community avoid eviction.
We also learnt about the importance of collecting community data. They shared with us the importance of how they have been collecting data on structure and households within the settlements. They create a data profile of problems faced by the people in the settlements, all of which are collected, collated and presented to government officials, to evidence that they exist, (the slum dwellers are ignored by government official, as they are told they do not live in areas with planning permission) and the problems they are facing and the support to solve the problems they need as citizens of Kenya.
Why do you think community exchanges are important?
The community exchanges, including overseas learning exchanges, are a good idea for a leader to visit at least once, if able, as they create solidarity with other women leaders. SDI have been around for 30 years, and are made up of these women-led saving schemes, which is a global network. It’s good to learn from them and to see what women-led saving schemes at neighbourhood/community level can achieve. Sometimes you just need to hear it and see it from the horse’s mouth to believe it.
Did you identify any common challenges between the groups?
Yes, in discussion we identified common challenges between the groups. It was important to create volunteering opportunities for the community. Everyone has some talent to bring to the community.
– Committee leaders can be overcommitted.
– Members of community groups and Savers groups can find it difficult to engage them/mobilise them in other ongoing campaigns.
– Growing a membership is difficult and requires effort by committee leaders. Everyone tries to save something in Kenya (there is no welfare state system).
-Mainstream media and the local media do not turn up for local events.
-Media do not show the true story/images of the urban poor/Shack/Slum Dweller, only show evictions and negative images.
They use Twitter, Instagram and have created their own YouTube Channel called Know Your City TV (KYC- TV) to tell their own story.
Did you share anything about your group / community / approach that you think was of particular interest to the other communities?
We emphasised that there is poverty in the UK, we emphasised that there is isolation in the UK and that people may not talk to anyone for weeks, months and can die from loneliness. So Savers groups are a tool to bring people together, to bring about volunteering opportunities.
We reminded our partners that people do sometimes have to make tough decisions in their household, due to poverty some household do not turn on the central heating in winter or just warm one room, many household do not eat fruit and vegetables as they are expensive to buy – yet the government guidelines is to eat 5 fruit or vegetables a day. Households where someone is working still do not always have enough money to eat three meals a day, parents go hungry, their children go hungry, people are poor and suffering due to the Cost of Living Crisis in the UK.
In three words, can you describe the overall experience?
Together!, inspired and motivated
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Social Homes for Miles Platting Now!
Miles Platting, Ancoats, and Collyhurst residents were out in force on Saturday to call for social homes to be built on a plot of land that has long been earmarked for community benefit.
Over 180 people attended the MPCAN family fun day where members also launched a city-wide campaign for more social homes to be built or brought into use across Manchester amidst a housing crisis in which more than 15,000 households are now on the waiting list for social housing in the city[1].
The Miles Platting PFI regeneration was justified to residents on the basis that there would be a Joint Services Centre providing a suite of NHS services and a Community Hub built at the intersection of Oldham Road and Varley Street behind the current location of Jigsaw Homes offices. This is the site where MPCAN leaders are calling for social homes to be constructed.
The Joint Services Centre was to include three GP practices; a pharmacy; chronic disease management, maternity and children’s health services; drugs misuse and sexual health services; counselling and therapy services; and breast screening and minor surgery. The Community Hub was supposed to incorporate: a new library; new sports facilities; advice and information; services for young people; spaces for community, recreation; and leisure use; and community outreach services.
There was also supposed to be retail facilities and a replacement swimming pool.
These facilities were never developed, and the community have experienced a net loss of 502 social homes following the regeneration (with 240 homes lost to demolition and others through right to buy). Meanwhile, the neighbourhood has been transformed into a landscape of private housing for sale and rent, with no shops or infrastructure to support this new population, creating a food desert, where residents must take two buses to access a supermarket or swimming pool.
Social Homes for Manchester Now!
As well as calling for social homes in Miles Platting, residents launched the Social Homes for Manchester Now! campaign by a coalition of social and climate justice organisations including Friends of the Earth Manchester, GM Tenants Union, Greater Together Manchester, Mustard Tree, Shelter, and Steady State Manchester.
The new spatial framework for Greater Manchester, Places for Everyone, is in the final stage of consultation on modifications which include the removal of specific reference to building social housing (in MM7.5). The new Local Plan for Manchester is being drafted and is expected to be published for consultation in Spring/Summer 2024. Together these policies will decide Manchester’s planning strategy and housing targets for the next 5-10 years.
Social Homes for Manchester Now! are calling on Manchester City Council to take on six key proposals in the context of these new strategic developments which were launched for the first time by Anne Worthington, MPCAN leader and local activist, on Saturday:
Social Homes for Manchester Now! – Six key proposals:
- At least 30% social homes to be included in all new developments of over 10 units to be enacted in local policy and enforced through the setting and enforcement of section 106 obligations.
- Stronger public accountability and scrutiny for the setting and enforcement of developer obligations to build new social housing.
- Establish a Commission on Social Housing for the City of Manchester.
- Create a specific policy for the promotion of Community Led Housing.
- Develop a practical strategy for the renovation/transfer of empty homes into homes for social rent.
- Ensure all new developments are climate and nature friendly.
Download the Social Homes For Manchester Now! briefing to find out how you can Get Involved in this campaign!
Respond to the Places for Everyone Modifications consultation to object to the removal of specific reference to Social Housing in modification MM7.5 here.
MPCAN leaders are now working with other Community Savers affiliates across the city to bring residents together around this campaign and the plots of land in their own neighbourhoods that require Social Homes Now!
[1] There were 14,912 households on the social housing waiting list in Manchester in 2022 and this figure is now likely to be significantly higher. Live tables on rents, lettings and tenancies, Table 600: numbers of households on local authorities’ housing waiting lists, found at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/live-tables-on-rents-lettings-and-tenancies. We would like to thank Dr Richard Goulding, University of Sheffield, for his support to MPCAN in accessing statistics, research, and information.
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GM Green Spaces Fund invests in Miles Platting Climate Action!
Over £400,000 has been awarded to 16 community-led projects in the latest round of the Greater Manchester Green Spaces Fund. Successful projects are providing access to better green space where it is needed most.
Miles Platting Community and Age Friendly Network (a Community Savers affiliate) are delighted to be one of the Round 3 grantees for their work to develop a wildlife corridor with support from Dr Jenna Ashton at the University of Manchester and a range of other partners:
“The Miles Platting Wildlife Corridor for people and nature will enhance identified spaces and create new habitats in the neighbourhoods of Miles Platting, Manchester. The aim is to improve biodiversity and the local ecosystem, increase interaction and connection between residents and their natural environment, mitigate impacts of climate change, and encourage physical activity between sites and along the Rochdale Canal.” (GMEF, 1Sept 2023)
Community groups who haven’t previously received funding can still apply for support from the Green Spaces Fund, with Round 4 now open.
Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, said:
“Everyone should have access to quality green space and the benefits that it offers our physical and mental health, but the reality is that some areas of Greater Manchester are worse off than others at present.
“That’s why I’m so pleased to welcome the latest intake of Green Spaces Fund projects, all of which seek to redress the balance. I continue to be amazed by the imagination and endeavour shown by community groups applying for support from fund – from green-fingered growers to champions of biodiversity, the projects that we have been able to back so far are really making a difference to their local areas.
“There’s still time to get backing from the fund, so if you have an idea for how to turn your local area green please do apply and help us make Greater Manchester a greener, fairer place.”
Read the full press release here.
Miles Platting Community and Age-friendly Network (MPCAN) established their Climate Action Group after community leaders came together with support from CLASS and URBED to map public and disused sites across their neighbourhood that was not yet earmarked for development and to create a shared vision for the future of the area in consultation with local residents.
Since then, leaders have identified a series of priorities including:
- the protection and improvement of green spaces and habitat creation for increased biodiversity;
- a community-led redevelopment of the St Cuthberts church site into a worship space and community hub in partnership with the Parochial Church Council.
- increasing the number of social homes available in the area after successive developments and a PFI regeneration programme left the community with a net loss of approximately 500 social homes.
Visit www.mpcan.org.uk to find out more and get involved!
Header image: “Swallows” by A Bird in the Hand Theatre at MPCAN’s climate resilience pageant in July 2023.
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Introducing….
In this introductory blog, Ieva Pojuner tells us info about her role as Community Action Intern working with the Community Savers groups in Miles Platting.
Alongside my role within CLASS, I am a final year Social Anthropology and Sociology student at the University of Manchester. I spent the summer of 2022 as an intern with Greater Together Manchester, supporting a Social Super Market pilot project to tackle food poverty and food waste. This experience enlightened me about the strong sense of community that has been created by local residents and frontline workers in Miles Platting. I was eager to continue supporting those living in the area and across Manchester, which led me to the Community Action Internship with CLASS.
I have connected strongly with Community Savers as a women-led organisation after studying intersectionality and feminist theory. This really made me aware of how women face additional barriers in inequitable socioeconomic conditions. It has been inspiring to learn more about how these groups come together and support each other during these current times of economic and political uncertainty. I am looking forward to learning from these relationships throughout all my community action work this year.
My work with CLASS has particularly focused on the Miles Platting Community and Age Friendly Network (MPCAN). After a few months of working with action groups across Miles Platting, it has been eye-opening to learn how representatives from across the community congregate to think collectively and engage in collaborative ways. Communication is at the heart of these networks, and it has been a pleasure to begin supporting MPCAN to maintain this. I have really enjoyed getting to know key members of the community and hearing about their priorities for ongoing local developments. Being a part of these conversations and listening to such critical pieces of dialogue is something I am grateful for. Although it has only been a couple months, I have learnt a lot about what it takes for a community to build trust and positive social relations. Even when there may be setbacks, the individuals in this community can always come together to find meaningful resolutions.
As for 2023, I am looking forward to making progress with MPCAN regarding plans for a new social club in Miles Platting. I anticipate this project to be very rewarding as we continue to facilitate community consultations and create a space for residents to socialise and connect with one another. This development, once completed, will be enjoyed by future generations to come, and I am excited to support its journey through each stage.
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“When we know each other, we build each other” – the power of international exchange.
These were the words of Rashid, Chair of Muungano Wa Wanavijiji, at the opening session of a week-long international exchange in Nairobi between Muungano and Community Savers leaders from Manchester and Sheffield.
Rashid was sharing on the power of exchanges in the SDI tradition – a tradition that has been nurtured, tested, and adapted over more than thirty years, in 32 countries across the Global South.
November 2022 was a special month as Community Savers leaders were able to welcome activists from Nairobi here in the UK, share knowledge and learning on their adaptation of SDI/Muungano methodologies with postgraduate students in Manchester, and then travel to Nairobi to experience these approaches first hand; visiting settlements and exchanging learning with their sister federation.
Here we try to capture some highlights from a rich month of learning and inspiration…
“We Kenyans, and you from the UK, we are the same.”
Anastasia Wairimu is Chair of Akiba Mashinani Trust one of three organisations that make up the Muungano Alliance. After her second trip to the UK in November 2022 exchanging learning with Community Savers, she recognised that despite very different histories, low-income communities in the UK experience the same dynamics of exploitation and discrimination as informal settlement communities in Kenya.
Tina Cribbin is Chair of Aquarius Community Savers in Hulme, Manchester: these exchanges have enabled Tina and Anastasia to develop a strong relationship of trust and mutual respect, and Tina agreed with Anas’s observations. In particular, Tina noted the similarities in negative attitudes among those holding power and purse strings who judge low-income communities as criminal, as lazy, as a problem that needs fixing.
During her latest visit to the UK, Anastasia was shocked to see how older people are treated after visiting Hopton Court tower block in Hulme where 75% of tenants are aged Over-50 and many have long-term conditions, disabilities and mobility constraints. During their visit, the lifts were out of order again (a regular occurrence over the previous five years) and elderly people had been left with no way of getting out of the block or bringing food shopping up to their flats. Tenants shared how throughout the pandemic they had nowhere to meet with their neighbours due to the absence of a communal area at the block; and how elderly people are falling through the gaps between housing, health and social care services in ways which leave them unable to pay for food, heating or sometimes without appropriate end of life care.
During the Nairobi visit, Ellie and Sue from Miles Platting shared experiences of top-down regeneration and gentrification which resonated strongly with Muungano anti-eviction activists. Leaders reflected that although the extremity of the circumstances are very different the principle of top-down attempts to push lower-income groups away from the inner-city is the same.
During November, leaders from Miles Platting gave urban inequality students a tour of their neighbourhood. They explained to them how the Private Finance Initiative that was supposed to regenerate the area for the existing community has resulted in a net loss of approximately 500 social rental homes and the inflation of house prices and private rents far beyond a threshold that local working families can afford. This is leading to the breaking up of families and people on lower incomes being pushed out to other boroughs of Greater Manchester. Existing residents had agreed to the PFI (including compulsory purchase orders and demolitions) on the basis that a suite of community facilities would be built, including a joint services centre and leisure and retail facilities. In the end, none of this was delivered. The community are now calling on Manchester City Council to protect the public land that these community facilities were supposed to be constructed on for community benefit.
At our final reflection, Jonte shared how an elderly woman housing activist in Kambi Moto who has been involved in their community-led housing movement for over 30 years was amazed to learn that she can sit together with people from the UK, this developed country, and find that they are struggling against the same social issues and can learn from how communities have organised over land and housing in Nairobi.
“Saving is an act of resistance”
Community Savers have been holding learning exchanges with Muungano activists since 2017 and during November’s exchange in Nairobi, Tina explained to Anas that:
“What changed for me was about the savings: I used to feel like I don’t want to save, I want to spend. But you told me that every time you save it is an act of resistance and that has really changed it for me.”
Savings groups are the building blocks of a united and powerful community-led movement for poverty reduction and the transformation of urban social power relations. Tina’s group are now beginning to see the fruits of building power through savings as on return to the UK they had a meeting with the housing provider at Hopton Court (above). The provider issued an official apology for the experiences of older people at the block and announced that they will be replacing the lifts to ensure elderly people are never put in a situation of being trapped in the building again.
Aquarius Community Savers have also been able to build a new coalition of groups in their social housing estate who are coming together to form a new Aquarius Neighbourhood Forum including members of Hulme Tenants Union; Epping Park Warriors; Aquarius Tenants and Residents Association and Age-Friendly Hulme and Moss Side. They have worked closely with their local ward councillors to oppose a private development that would block the sunlight from Hopton Court gardens and put even more pressure on overburdened local services. They are now working with their councillors to request the rezoning of the Aquarius estate out of the city centre planning area and into the Inner South zone in support of a community-led plan for their thriving local community.
“Unity is our strength, Information is our power”
Muungano begin their meetings with call outs to their members “Unity? Is our strength! Information? Is our power!” During the final reflection at Muungano House on 25 November, Anastasia explained that:
“There are 43 tribes in Kenya, but at Muungano we know only two tribes: the haves and the have-nots”
Unity is critical to addressing this inequality.
We reflected on the importance of collective solutions and collective thinking. We discussed how in the UK people have become individual clients of government and service providers. Although it is good to have a social welfare system, it is provided in a way that has made people become passive. Tina observed that “it is given but it is never what you would have asked for. Now we are learning to ask for what we need.”
We reflected on the power of community data and also the value of university partnerships even though universities generally represent the “Haves”. Nicerah from Kibera shared how after she joined Muungano and began collecting data in her settlement, officials were asking her “How can you know how to make these survey questions on your own? What university did you go to?” Nicerah was able to tell them “My University is Muungano”.
Emily, a national leader from Mathare, explained how at the same time, Muungano has developed partnerships with university departments and their students. Students can help them to collect data and write up reports. This is not because the community cannot do it without their help, but it is about recognising that these students may be the next Planning Officer or Water and Sanitation official in the future: “If we teach them now, they may come back to us in the future”.
Validation is a critical step in the process: presenting the data collected back to the community through public meetings to enable them to correct inaccuracies and build a sense of ownership over the information and the change that the information makes possible.
Earlier in the week, as we began our learning exchange, Nancy explained that data collection underpins everything for Muungano: “we have to know ourselves” and this is the principle underpinning Know Your City TV…
Know Your City TV: “We can change the story”
One of the most inspiring engagements for UK activists during their week in Nairobi was with the Youth Federation leaders involved in data collection, advocacy, and Know Your City TV.
Through KYCTV young people are engaged in community action by creating opportunities for them to learn skills they are interested in like film-making and photography while leaders also engage youth through art, music and sports.
The UK team took home the principle of “Just One” – you only need one engaged young person to start a youth movement. That one person will be able to engage other young people.
UK delegates were inspired by their inclusive approach involving arts and sports and participatory approaches and tools for engagement and planning – especially the Tree of Transformation which enabled young people in Mukuru to come together for visioning of the changes they wanted to see and the conditions that they needed to foster to achieve those changes.
Georgie from Arbourthorne asked the youth leaders what made them engage with Muungano and KYCTV as it can be hard to engage young people in the UK who say “nothing ever changes”. They explained that they grew up in the settlements and they saw politicians come and go with promises that they never delivered on. They recognised Muungano’s message that we have the solutions and we know our community best. We were tired of all the negative representations in the media and decided that with the training they were offering we can change the story.
Younger youths were inspired and motivated by older youth mentors who they looked up to. The older leaders explained that they put their trust in the young people to carry out data gathering and document Federation processes; and importantly they show them love and nurture them. The leaders focus on what the young people themselves are interested in and what they want to learn and: “Give them a chance to be who they are”.
They advised the UK team: “try to spot the ones with ambitions, start with them, find the youth that want change, show them the opportunities, show them a better way of life”.
Exchanges such as these between grassroots communities across different international contexts are critical for enabling communities to recognise their expertise and the commonalities of their experiences, struggles and strength within global and urban systems which act to exploit and oppress them. Yet they resist, they organise, and they grow stronger, smarter, and more effective through global solidarity networks: when they know each other, they build each other.
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