What does Reeves’ announcement mean for Manchester’s homeless and overcrowded families?
The Manchester Social Housing Commission welcomes Rachel Reeves’ announcement of £39 billion for social and affordable housing, but questions remain on social rent..
Residents from some of Manchester’s most disadvantaged neighbourhoods today broadly welcomed the Chancellor’s promises of increased funding for new and existing social and affordable housing but deep concerns remain about the cost of living crisis.
Zoe Marlow, Manager of Dandelion Foodbank in Wythenshawe and Community Commissioner said:
“It’s great to hear that the government has nearly doubled investment in affordable and social housing, but I am really worried about the proposed 10 years of above inflation rent increases they have announced in combination with all the welfare cuts.
Here in Wythenshawe, there is a lot of disability – I myself have a long term condition – so a lot of people can’t work – if they are putting up rents, they also need to make sure people have enough to live on. I see mums every week at the food bank who can’t afford to feed their children because of the cost of living crisis so how are they supposed to find even more rent with no additional income for food?”
The Manchester Social Housing Commission was launched in July 2024 in partnership with Manchester City Council, housing and climate justice charities and other social landlords in the city. Commissioners have been producing evidence about the need for a massive boost in long-term investment in sustainable homes for social rent and certainty over rent increases to help social housing providers build more homes and refurbish their existing stock.
Bishop of Manchester, Dr David Walker, who chairs the Commission said:
“We are delighted to see that Government is listening to the many and diverse communities, charities, local authorities, and providers across the country who have been raising their voices for so long on the need for urgent action on the housing crisis.
£39 billion is certainly going to help. But the government needs to go further and commit the majority of that funding to building new homes for social rent with clear and enforceable targets.
Otherwise, we fear that this investment will mainly go towards so-called Affordable Rent, which is usually 80% of market rent and will not help clear the 19,000 households on Manchester’s housing waiting list or the 3000 households living in temporary accommodation.”
The Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR) contained a number of other positive announcements on housing, including protecting spending on homelessness and rough sleeping, more money for early interventions to prevent homelessness and to support local authorities in England to increase the supply of good quality temporary accommodation and drive down the costs of private provision.
The Warm Homes Plan will also help to cut bills by hundreds of pounds per year for families across the country by upgrading homes through insulation, heating and solar panels.
It comes however in the same week that MPs have been debating the Planning & Infrastructure Bill which is currently a missed opportunity to ensure that these funds for new homes will meet requirements for social rent and sustainability, including a failure to ensure national targets for the number of social rent homes required.
Dr James Vanderventer from Manchester Metropolitan University who also sits on the Commission said:
“There is a lot of good news in the CSR, but building new homes for social rent at scale needs more than just capital and rental income. The government should look at our proposals for changing existing rules on grant funding to enable more flexibility, how to unlock cheaper land for social housebuilding, increase local authority capacity to build, re-use existing empty homes and use the tax system in more innovative ways to incentivise building and retrofitting, and create new revenue streams to help fund it.”
The Manchester Social Housing Commission launched their second policy brief – How to fund and deliver sustainable homes for social rent – ahead of Reeves’ announcement setting out a range of innovative measures through which investments could be made into homes for social rent together with the cost savings that are achieved through social rent delivery.
The Commission’s first policy brief was launched by Community Savers representative for Wythenshawe Central Network Zoe Marlow, and Thirza Amina Asanga Rae in the House of Lords in November.
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New Publication: Manchester’s Housing Crisis in Context: Why we need sustainable homes for social rent
Community Commissioners call for urgent action on the housing crisis
The Manchester Social Housing Commission launched in July 2024 after Community Savers affiliates across the city called for urgent action to address the crisis where over 19,000 households are now on the waiting list for a social rented home in the city.
Today, the Commission launches its second policy brief: How to fund and deliver sustainable homes for social rent. The first policy brief and research report focused on an analysis of the housing crisis in Manchester and called for five urgent policy asks. This report sets out five key areas for reform that will make accelerated delivery possible.
DOWNLOAD HOW TO FUND AND DELIVER SUSTAINABLE HOMES FOR SOCIAL RENT
FIVE KEY AREAS FOR REFORM
1. Boost funding: A long-term government funding settlement for all social landlords through much higher levels of grant, access to cheaper government borrowing with longer repayment terms, and long-term rent settlement that is fair to both tenants and social providers.
2. Unlock land: Pursue options to unlock cheaper land for social housing delivery.
3. Reuse existing buildings: Make better use of existing residential and commercial buildings through the planning system to deliver social rent homes at pace.
4. Financial innovation: Support the development of alternative capital and revenue funding sources for social rent housing.
5. Transform supply chains: Invest in an alternative social housing supply chain to unblock the existing capacity barriers and reduce the cost of construction and retrofit.
Councillor Gavin White, Executive Member for Housing and Development at Manchester City Council and a lead member of the Commission said:
“Councils all over the UK want to spend more of their budgets on social housing, rather than temporary accommodation for those experiencing homelessness; this long-term and joined up financial investment in social housing is the way we will solve the housing and homelessness crisis and build the homes once again that our communities need.”
Zoe Marlow, Community Commissioner representing Wythenshawe Central Network was left with a 25% reduction in her housing benefit after her children moved out due to the bedroom tax. She has survived repeated evictions threats, court cases, and the stress of constant rent arrears despite actively wanting to downsize. Thankfully she has now been appropriately housed and continues to work hard to give voice to the experiences of tenants across the city through the Commission process including in Parliament in 2024. Zoe says:
“Throughout this time, I tried to move to a smaller home and free up my 3-bed to one of the thousands of families living in overcrowded housing, but I was not allowed to bid for another social home because I was in rent arrears. Thankfully, I’ve finally been able to move to a smaller home I can afford. A lot of people are going through this. And that’s why I’ve got involved in the Manchester Social Housing Commission to work with others to get the millions of homes for social rent we need and abolish the cruel bedroom tax. That is the only way to address under-occupancy and reduce over-crowding.”
The Manchester Social Housing Commission will continue to unpick the mutually reinforcing housing, cost of living, and climate crises and develop robust solutions for local, regional and national government through to December 2025. You can find all their publications here: https://www.socialhomes4mcr.org.uk/publications.
The Social Homes for Manchester Coalition will take forward the findings of the Commission over the next five years through to 2030. There are many ways to support these efforts. Please sign up to the mailing list or if you are a Manchester-based constituted group or registered organisation please consider joining the coalition.
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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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Wythenshawe Women take action for systems change!
In 2022, Community Savers and CLASS brought women’s groups and their support agencies together across the Wythenshawe area to think about the many ways in which poverty is gendered and explore ideas for systems change.
Out of that work (and with support from Smallwood Trust) Women of Wythenshawe was born: a women-led poverty action network comprising ten member groups which regularly brings together approximately 30 women leaders to take action together for systems change.
The intersecting issues they identified on their visioning journey were many but in autumn 2023 they prioritised three critical issues that are holding women back in fundamental and systemic ways in Wythenshawe (and across the UK) that require urgent action:
- Domestic Abuse
- Access to social housing
- The crisis in Special Educational Needs provision
WoW leaders have formed three campaign groups to take action for systems change on these issues, and with support from Renaisi on systems mapping and On Our Radar on community reporter training, they are taking the city by storm.
“Someone once said that unity is strength and that is certainly true of the Women of Wythenshawe project. Having the opportunity to be part of a hugely varied and diverse group of women, sharing experiences from different perspectives and experiences only makes this incredible group of women stronger in their pursuit of systems and policy change and in support and understanding of each other.” Kate Maggs, Better Things
WoW Housing Action
WoW leaders joined forces with community leaders in Hulme and Miles Platting in October to catalyse a new campaign coalition called Social Homes for Manchester Now! They have produced a series of video shorts highlighting the urgent need for more new build homes for social rent for women and families and demanded that Places for Everyone – the new spatial framework for Greater Manchester retains clear wording and commitment on social housing. Together with a coalition of organisations that includes Community Savers/CLASS, Greater Manchester Tenants Union, Greater Together Manchester, Shelter, Mustard Tree, and Steady State Manchester they are now seeking a commitment to 30% homes for social rent in all new developments under the Local Plan and closer to home, within the redevelopment of Wythenshawe Civic Centre.
“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” Shelley Wallis, Wythenshawe Women’s Welfare Association
The WoW Action on SEND group are working on three key areas:
- a campaign for all schools in Wythenshawe to gain Inclusion Quality Mark accreditation by International Women’s Day 2026
- establishing a mums-led training collective that can run workshops and training in local schools with governors, teaching staff and parents
- developing an evidence base and a set of recommendations about the needs of young people as they move out of the SEND system and into adult social care support after turning 25
The Domestic Abuse team are excited to be developing a new partnership with Safespots to co-create specialist training for statutory workers across the Wythenshawe area on how to support the full diversity of WoW women in situations of domestic abuse including women with learning disabilities and autism, women with no recourse to public funds, and women from diverse cultural backgrounds.
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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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