Guest article from The Salford Star: As the Homelessness Reduction Act kicks in this month, Salford City Council is about to publish its new 44-page Homeless Strategy which reveals shocking and staggering levels of homelessness in the city. Included in the report is the fact that Salford has a higher level of rough sleeping than […]
Burnham’s battle to end rough sleeping by 2020 – can he do it?
Andy Burnham’s pledge to end rough sleeping by 2020 played a large part in the campaign which saw him become the Mayor of Greater Manchester ten months ago. Burnham inherited a growing homelessness and housing crisis which has seen the level of rough sleeping rise 13-fold in Manchester since 2010, with the problem escalating quicker […]
Consent To Entertainment: The Newspaper Boy
It probably says a lot about the kind of theatre I’m accustomed to that I was initially disappointed by the lack of soliloquies and arty shouting. After some adjustment, it turns out that well-drawn characters struggling relatably against society’s pettiness and cruelty, speaking from the heart with witty, unpretentious dialogue, against a backdrop of impeccable […]
Manchester is putting Housing First – and the results look good
This article is part of ‘The Meteor Explores: Homelessness in Manchester‘ series. Decadence, procrastination and occasional nudity. It would be tricky to explain some of our private domestic activities to an imagined third-party observer, but anarchic indulgence is for many the wholly necessary backend to the economically functional front which the aforementioned observer would probably wish […]
‘Be the change you wish to see’ – Manchester’s squatters are doing just that
The idea that ownership breeds value is essentially true. However, it is not true in the Thatcherite sense, where ownership is the means to the end of an individualistic anti-society. It is true if you develop an area which’s express purpose is to be the collective property of those who inhabit it or utilise it, […]
Andy Burnham describes a ‘humanitarian crisis’ as 42% rough sleeping increase across Greater Manchester revealed
Mayor Andy Burnham yesterday described the 42% increase in rough sleeping across Greater Manchester between 2016 to 2017 as a “humanitarian crisis”. The increase was revealed in the official rough sleeping statistics for England released by the Ministry of Housing Communities & Local Government. Burnham criticised a number of central government policies, which he blames […]
European Women Celebrated by Manchester Charity
Contributions made to the Greater Manchester community by European expat women will be celebrated at a glitzy awards ceremony in Castlefield next Monday 29 January. Europia Women’s Awards is an initiative designed to focus on the many successes and achievements of these women, and also to underline the significance and benefits of their presence. The […]
Be the media in Manchester: apply for our free journalism course starting this April
This spring The Meteor is teaming up with the Centre for Investigative Journalism to offer a comprehensive twelve session training course in community journalism. If you have ever been disappointed by media coverage in your area before, this is a chance to set the record straight by producing the news yourself; covering the stories you […]
The Addy land squat: a missed opportunity for Hulme?
When masked bailiffs arrived to clear the North Hulme Adventure Playground of a group of squatters and dismantle the homes they had built there, it marked the end of the most recent in a series of occupations, and eventual evictions, of non-residential buildings across Manchester. The site’s residents spent three months clearing, building and planning […]
No, Councillor Blundell – the solution to begging isn’t fines, it’s fixing our broken housing system
Councillor John Blundell strongly proposed in Manchester Confidential that Manchester City Council should start fining “aggressive beggars” as it is “the only solution” to what he describes as “organised begging”. His use of the term “beggar” comes off the back of Manchester City Council leader Richard Leese in his leader’s blog describing Christmas as “peak […]