Salford unites to urge new GM Mayor to solve housing crisis

Salford housing providers and local politicians are calling on the new Greater Manchester Mayor to make housing a top priority when they come into power.

Last month (February), Greater Manchester Housing Providers (GMHP) launched a campaign for everyone in the region to live in a home they can afford.

To help demonstrate Salford’s support for the campaign, housing providers from the Salford Strategic Housing Partnership have joined forces with key politicians, and other high profile organisations such as Shelter and the National Housing Federation to ‘sign-up’ to the pledge – that also urges mayoral candidates to commit to solving the housing crisis of not enough affordable homes being created in the city.

Today (Friday, 31 March), Rebecca Long Bailey (Salford and Eccles MP), Paul Dennett (Salford City Mayor), Councillor Paul Longshaw (Lead member for housing and neighbourhoods) and our own cheif executive Lee Sugden were among several public figures from the city who made their voices heard on the lawns of Salford Civic Centre.

We joined organisations – City West Housing Trust, Together Housing Group, Great Places Housing Group, Irwell Valley, University of Salford, Shelter and National Housing Federation – at the event.

As part of a “week of action” all attendees signed a large “jigsaw piece” – along with members of the public – which will be combined with pieces from the other nine Greater Manchester local authorities area.

Representatives will unite outside Manchester Town Hall on Monday, 3 April to fuse together the pieces which will reveal the pledge.

Councillor Paul Longshaw, Salford’s lead member for housing and neighbourhoods said: “We are calling for the new GM Mayor to prioritise housing and deliver affordable homes that Salford and Greater Manchester desperately needs to solve the housing crisis gripping the region.

“The housing challenge in Salford is about providing the right amount of good quality decent homes at a price that people can afford, within places that work. The number of people without a place to call home is terrible and is getting worse and worse and we are not providing the range of homes to meet first, the housing needs of Salford, and then the right housing offer to meet the growth and ambition of our City Region.

“In the City Region more than 11,000 homes are required to meet demand against a current plan of more than 3,000 homes. We need everyone in Salford – housing associations, councils, academia, charities, community groups, other organisations and the new GM Mayor to work together to tackle this extremely serious issue.”

Rebecca Long-Bailey MP added: “With rising house prices, buyers hoping to save for a typical deposit over the next four years will need to scrape together at least £724 every month at current rates.

“In Salford, house prices are six times the average income of a local person and around 7,000 people are waiting for a home on Salford Homesearch at any one time.

“This campaign shows housing associations and political figures want to work with the new GM Mayor when they are elected in May. They can play a vitally important role in tackling these worrying issues.”

Housing associations have built more than 8,000 new homes in the past five years, a third of all new homes in Greater Manchester and are already housing more than half a million residents.

A quarter of a million homes across the region are owned and managed by GMHP members – one in every five home in the city region.