The new mayor of Greater Manchester has set out plans to deliver 50,000 affordable homes across the region by 2039.
This would include council, social and genuinely affordable homes, and Bev Craig has said that by May 2028, 10,000 of these homes will be built, under construction or in the pipeline with planning permission.
To facilitate the new homes, the mayor said that she intends to remove blockers to development and transform disused public land into new housing schemes.
To meet the scale of its ambition, the GMCA says that it will need to pull every lever at its disposal, including remediating brownfield land and bringing forward dormant sites in public ownership.
As a result, the mayor will ask public bodies in Greater Manchester to carry out a public land review and identify sites that could be brought forward to deliver homes.
Mayor of Greater Manchester, Bev Craig, said: “Everyone in Greater Manchester should have the security of a good home that they can afford and no one should feel priced out of their community. I benefited from the security of a good council house growing up, and I want everyone to have that opportunity. As Mayor, I am determined to deliver a golden era of more council and social homes, using all means at our disposal in Greater Manchester.”
“Nationally we face a housing crisis, with too many people trapped on housing waiting lists or living in poor substandard rented accommodation. In Greater Manchester, I’m determined to change that by building a new generation of council and social homes across Greater Manchester and making it a GM-wide mission, with a new board to oversee our delivery.”
“We’ve already started ramping up delivery. When I was Manchester Council leader, I built more council and social homes than Manchester had built in 25 years, but we need to go further and faster in every bit of Greater Manchester.”
“Too many brownfield sites sit empty across Greater Manchester – so I will target them and set up a new Public Sector Land Bank that can be used for council, social and genuinely affordable homes. We will be leading by example when it comes to freeing up disused and dormant public land for development and I’m calling on other government bodies to join us.”
“I know first-hand the security that a council house brings. That’s why I am absolutely committed to delivering the council and social homes that people here in Greater Manchester need, so everyone can have the foundation of a good life in our city region.”
The GMCA says that its joint development plan of nine council areas, Places for Everyone, has removed planning obstacles and mapped out “shovel-ready” sites to deliver the new homes, maximising the use of brownfield land while protecting the Green Belt from unplanned development. This has identified land supply for 78,585 new homes of all tenures up to 2030.
The combined authority is also aiming to reverse the decline of available social homes being lost through Right to Buy. Currently, Salford and Stockport are building more homes for social rent than they are losing, and the GMCA is aiming for the whole of Greater Manchester to do the same by 2027.
Greater Manchester is in line to receive an initial £1.8billion from the government’s Social and Affordable Homes Programme, and says it will work with councils and partners to map out how it can accelerate the building of new homes.
