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What Manchester must do to hit the right note on social housing
Manchester is recognised as a progressive city. But when it comes to social housing, the city council must do more to improve its record, argues Polly Neate
Manchester is famous for its resilience as much as for its culture and vibrancy, with a keen civic pride and a strong sense of community.
We are used to thinking of London as an increasingly divided city, with housing at the heart of that shift. It is a measure of the divisive power of the national emergency that our housing crisis is now so grave that even in Manchester the community spirit forged over generations is under threat.
Right now one in every 135 people in Manchester is homeless, the highest rate in the North of England, and 4,000 people bear the individual, human cost.
Every night in the city more than 100 people are forced to sleep rough in cars, sheds or on the street – something which is painfully visible to everyone in the city. In 2017, more street homeless people died in Manchester than anywhere else in the country.
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The effects of this state of emergency are being felt by Shelter’s local frontline services. Last year we helped 3,000 people across Greater Manchester, ranging from rough sleepers under the city’s railway arches to young families trapped in squalid so-called temporary accommodation that is, in reality, far from temporary.
Our Manchester hub is one of our biggest. And it’s at the vanguard of our new Shelter strategy which centres on our hubs as bases for change, both with individuals and in the communities where we work.
That means being unafraid to challenge local decisions that cause the appalling suffering we witness every day. In Manchester, the council must address the city’s housing issue at its source: the root of the housing emergency is the lack of genuinely affordable social homes.
That’s why we held hustings in the city centre last month, which put local councillor candidates under the spotlight and right in front of residents. Local people demanded to know the candidates’ housing policies and we are determined to hold these politicians to account.
At the hustings we heard how last year 2,974 homes were delivered in Manchester, but of these a startlingly paltry 28 were for social rent.
National policy should take some of the blame for this – nowhere in England is building anywhere near enough social homes. However, Manchester City Council needs to be doing much more to improve its weak record on social housing.
The current policy is that 20% of housing in new developments should be ‘affordable’, but it contains no specific social housing requirement. To make matters worse, the 20% affordable housing requirement only acts as a starting point for negotiations.
It is not a fixed requirement. This means that developers can negotiate down the amount of affordable housing they have to provide.
Despite Shelter’s campaign win last year, removing the viability loophole that had led to the loss of thousands of affordable homes across the country, the council is yet to amend local policy to incorporate the new national guidance.
Meanwhile there were over 13,000 households on the waiting list for council housing in 2018, and unless Manchester City Council drastically alters its policies, they will continue to wait.
And let’s be clear that private renting is not the solution, despite growing massively. In 2017, over a quarter of all homes in Manchester were privately rented. But with average rent costing nearly half of an average full-time worker’s earnings, this leaves people struggling to get by.
As Shelter’s commission found across the country: in Manchester more older renters and young people are becoming trapped in private renting, unable to save, in poor conditions and with rent rising faster than wages. But they have no alternative.
“As Shelter’s commission found across the country: in Manchester more older renters and young people are becoming trapped in private renting, unable to save, in poor conditions and with rent rising faster than wages”
Shelter is calling on councillors to commit to doing all that they can to ensure that Manchester City Council secures the social homes that residents need and deserve.
Manchester City Council must:
- Develop social housing requirements within its local plan. In line with Shelter’s Future of Social Housing report, the council must do everything possible to secure decent homes that are affordable for all those who would benefit from them.
- Commit to removing get-out clauses from local planning, to stop developers sidestepping their responsibility to build social homes.
- Ensure that developers provide at least 20% affordable housing on all developments, as set out in Manchester’s local plan.
A major, forward-thinking council like Manchester must be committed to decent, genuinely affordable social homes for everyone who is priced out and struggling.
People are demanding the opportunity to put down roots, to thrive and to plan for their families’ future in this great city. We are behind them.
Polly Neate, chief executive, Shelter
