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.