National statistics show that across GM as social housing has fallen, housing waiting lists and temporary accommodation has risen. Mayor of Salford Paul Dennett and author of “Safe as Houses” Stuart Hodkinson give their views on the state of social housing and what needs to be done to improve it. It was the crises of […]
Coronavirus pandemic: housing activists call for more protection for tenants in Greater Manchester
Renters reliant on sick pay are at risk of eviction during the COVID-19 pandemic. Housing activists in Greater Manchester are calling for more protection for those in the Private Rented Sector affected by the coronavirus and for the homeless to be housed during the crisis. Dismayed at the lack of protection offered to private renters […]
Former UN special rapporteur says city development should ‘create landscapes for life, not landscapes for rent’
Professor Raquel Rolnik, a former UN special rapporteur, condemned the financialisation of housing provision in cities across the world, which she says is responsible for rising rents, increasing evictions and homelessness in many countries. Rolnik says neoliberal economic philosophy underpins this radical change in housing provision, which is failing to provide housing to those most […]
Tenant rights campaigners victorious over government plans to scrap ‘no-fault evictions’
A coalition of housing activists are celebrating a campaign victory as the government announced its plans yesterday to abolish “no-fault evictions” under Section 21 of the 1988 Housing Act and introduce open-ended tenancies for private renters in England. Currently, Section 21 allows landlords to evict tenants without giving a reason, after a fixed term tenancy […]
Tenants are fighting back against the crisis in private renting
Tenants Union UK and Greater Manchester Housing Action are organising Renters’ Forums across the city to push for a renter-led policy response to the crisis of private renting. We are bringing together a diverse group of renters, policy makers and 3rd sector organisations to re-balance the power between landlords and renters, and give tenants a […]
How austerity is killing legal aid and restricting access to justice
We often see law as the means of pursing justice in cases of criminal action, the violence of an assault or the calculated theft of property. But it also concerns what we consider daily issues, our right to welfare while unemployed, to have a safe roof over our head and the right to live in […]
99% of Manchester rooms to rent advertised are unaffordable or unavailable to young people claiming welfare
In some areas of the UK just 1% of rooms advertised for rent are affordable and available to young people claiming social security, according to research carried out by the Social Security Advisory Commitee (SSAC). Manchester was not included in the SSAC’s results so The Meteor repeated their research method and extended it to cover […]
Endemic avoidance of payments to councils by property developers revealed, while affordable housing is sacrificed for profit
A comprehensive report on the huge sums of money fuelling the housing development boom in the city centre has revealed the scale of non-payment of development funding to the council: only 8% of housing development in Manchester City Centre included in the study had any Section 106 agreement at all. The lack of money collected […]
Andy Burnham to hear of tenants’ struggles at Manchester Renters’ Forum
The ever increasing number of renters fed up with poor housing conditions, rising rents and bad landlords will have a chance to vent their frustrations at a Manchester Renters Forum on the 1 March. Two people with the power to influence the housing situation – Andy Burnham, Mayor of Greater Manchester, and Paul Dennett, City […]