Manchester sets out its own affordable housing definition

The council’s housing affordability framework has been published today and states the cost of housing should not exceed 30% of an average household’s gross income.

A report to the council’s cabinet meeting said the term ‘affordable housing’ is “very widely used and misunderstood”.

The framework also sets out an aim to replace social housing lost through Right to Buy and demolitions. There are currently more than 68,000 social rented homes in Manchester and the council aims to maintain this number.

In the past five years there was a net gain of 921 new affordable homes following the development of 2,721 homes but the loss of 1,800.

The framework has set a target to increase affordable housing delivery to between 1,000 and 2,000 homes a year across the city. These will be an equal split between homes to rent and to buy.

The affordable housing definition for the city will include social rent, affordable rent, shared ownership, shared equity and rent to purchase.

It follows the Greater London Authority (GLA) setting out a new grant programme and affordable housing definitions along similar terms.

Labour’s candidate for Greater Manchester mayor, Andy Burnham, has pledged to use a £300m pot of development funding to build affordable housing for rent across the region.

The council has estimated 14,000 homes will be built over the next five years and it has already submitted bids to the Homes and Communities Agency to build 1,650 affordable homes up to 2021. This breaks down to 172 social rented homes, 730 affordable rented, 654 shared ownership and 94 rent to buy.

Local housing associations are working with the council to review the existing social housing stock and look at ways to move out residents who are able to buy a home to free up stock.

The council is also working with housing associations to create “incentives” for people who are under-occupying social rented homes to move out to free up these homes for families, the report said. It follows outgoing chief executive, Sir Howard Bernstein, questioning whether people in work should live in social housing throughout their lives.

The council wants to “make better use” of its adapted housing and “where possible allocate these to residents who need this type of home”.

It will work with public and private sector partners to access funding such as the government’s National Productivity Investment Fund, announced in the Autumn Statement. It will also “take advantage” of the newly relaxed Affordable Homes Programme, a spokesperson said.

Bernard Priest, deputy leader of Manchester City Council, said: “Manchester is leading the way to ensure the city can deliver decent and secure housing that meets the needs of residents that are below the average income for the city.”