36,000 new homes needed in housing crisis
MANCHESTER must build 36,000 new homes across the city over the next 10 years to keep up with demand – and 10,000 of them should be affordable.
That is the town hall’s take on what the city must do to tackle its housing crisis.
Manchester council will sell land on the cheap so housing associations can create more affordable housing, build new homes itself and push developers to play their part too, leaders have said as they launch a new housing strategy.
And at least a third of the city’s 70,000 social homes should be retrofitted by 2032 to cut carbon emissions and bring energy bills down, the strategy says.
It comes as the council launches its housing strategy for the next decade.
Former leader Sir Richard Leese’s 25-year reign saw huge growth across Manchester.
But during that time, high demand for housing has contributed to a ‘crisis’ with an average of more than 1,000 people becoming homeless every month now.
Almost 3,000 households are currently in temporary accommodation, including hundreds of families, with some in B&Bs, the latest data reveals.
Senior councillors say this is why they are ‘passionate’ about affordable housing – but delivering it will require ‘significant’ government support.
The council’s new leader Bev Craig has made housing a priority since taking over from Sir Richard in December – not just in the city centre, but across the whole city.
She said: “Good quality housing is a fundamental need for everyone. Having a secure home is the cornerstone that enables our residents to prosper, to live fulfilling lives and to support good health.
“We don’t want this to be a game of chance – we want everyone in our city to have access to a good home. Manchester has changed lots over the last two decades.
“This is an exciting place to live and more people are choosing to live in our city. This success and our growth should be celebrated, but at the same time we need to make that everyone in our city can share in this success.
“Our new housing strategy is about making sure that Manchester works for everyone.”
The council’s current strategy says 6,400 affordable homes should be built between 2015 and 2025 – a target the town hall says it is on track to achieve. However, with around 250 homes taken out of the city’s social housing stock every year through the Right To Buy, which allows council tenants to buy their homes at a discount, many new properties are simply replacing those sold.
For many years, local authorities have relied on council policies to make private developers pay for affordable housing – but many say this approach has failed. Taking matters into its own hands, the council decided to set up it own development company which aims to build 500 new homes a year.
This City, which already has plans in place for new developments in Ancoats and the Northern Quarter, is expected to deliver at least 2,000 affordable homes over the next 10 years – a fifth of the total required in the strategy.
The cost of renting many of these new homes will be capped at the Local Housing Allowance Level, making the newly-coined ‘Manchester Living Rent’ truly affordable to everyone in the city, even those relying on housing benefits.
Meanwhile, privately sold and rented properties within these developments would be used to raise revenue, subsidising the cost of the affordable ones. Altogether, it is estimated between a third and half of the affordable homes to be built in Manchester over the next 10 years will be on council-owned land.
The council will continue selling land its owns across the city – particularly in the north, east and Wythenshawe – at a lower price than the market value to housing association who agree to build more affordable housing. Housing associations, which are expected to deliver the largest share of the 10,000 new affordable homes over the next decade, are also being asked to price some of their new properties at the level of ‘Manchester Living Rent.’
Private developers will also be encouraged to offer ‘truly affordable’ housing - but there will be no legal obligation to do this as part of the planning process.
The council has been criticised for letting private housebuilders ‘get away with’ building major developments which have no affordable housing at all.
The housing strategy will be presented to councillors on the economy scrutiny committee at a town hall meeting next Thursday.