GM Mayor targets 10,000 new social homes by May 2028
A Greater Manchester public sector land bank will enable Mayor Bev Craig to make a sizeable dent in her overall goal to see 50,000 council and social homes built by 2039 – with a fifth due to be constructed, on site, or through planning within two years.
The 10,000 goal is achievable through the £1.8bn Greater Manchester is due to receive from Homes England’s Social and Affordable Housing Programme, Craig said.
Helping move delivery along will be the Greater Manchester Public Sector Land Bank, an initiative Craig launched yesterday. This will be made up of sites owned by local authorities and government bodies that could be released for affordable housing. She called on her fellow public sector organisations to get on board and contribute their sites to the bank.
“I want us to lead the way in Greater Manchester with the new generation of council and social homes,” she said.
Craig made the pledge and land bank announcement on Wednesday during a tour of Jigsaw Homes’ recently completed 35-apartment Stamford Street Central development in Ashton-under-Lyne.
The social housing scheme exemplified the types of homes Craig wants to see delivered: energy efficient, truly affordable, and built on brownfield land.
Rents on the former car park site are £107/week for a one-bedroom flat and £122/week for a two-bedroom one. The EPC A project was created using a fabric first building approach, with rooftop solar panels and mechanical ventilation with heat recovery systems.
It was built over the course of two years by J. Greenwood Builders and with support from Tameside Council. The project team included JDA Architects, Sutcliffe Engineers, and Neo Projects.
Jigsaw Homes chair Roli Barker was supportive of Craig’s land bank proposal. Credit: PNW
Land bank potential
The creation of the Public Sector Land Bank could help drive the delivery of more projects like Stamford Street Central, according to Jigsaw Homes’ chair Roli Barker.
“As much as we want to build and we have the desire, the strategy, and the commitment – what we need is the land,” Barker said. “So, if there is a commitment and a fund or way for us to access that land – that’s going to be brilliant because we’re ready to build.”
The land bank builds upon the Project 500 housing strategy Craig put into place during her time as Leader of Manchester City Council. Project 500 identified 35 small brownfield sites owned by the city council that could hold 517 affordable homes – 75% of which would be for social rent.
Reflecting on the still underway Project 500, Craig said: “We were able to pull together lots of different pockets of land that wouldn’t sell for loads on the open market and were just going to sit derelict. I want us to do something similar at a Greater Manchester scale, working with registered providers and working with councils to get those council and social homes we desperately need.”
Tackling delivery challenges
The land bank will not solve all of the challenges facing affordable housing delivery, which is still dependent on grant support.
Case in point: Stamford Street Central cost £6.9m to deliver, according to Jigsaw. Stamford Street Central was supported through £2.8m from the Affordable Homes Programme and £700,000 from the Greater Manchester Brownfield Housing Fund.
When it comes to meeting Craig’s 10,000 social homes by 2028 target, Jigsaw’s Barker identified three main issues: “I think the real challenge will be getting the land, getting the grant funding drawn down in time, and then making sure that we’ve got the skilled workforce to be able to deliver the homes.”
That being said, Barker said it would not do to get bogged down in the difficulties around delivery.
“We are aware that there are going to be challenges, but I think let’s not focus on the challenges,” she said. “Let’s focus on the ambition and try to do as much as we can, as best as we can.”
Adrian Rooney, managing director of J. Greenwood Builders, agreed.
“You’ve got have a starting point,” he said. “You’ve got to have the ambition to grow. That sort of target number is something to aim at.”
Rooney added that SMEs, like Greenwood, had a prominent role to play.
“One thing that has to happen is SMEs like ourselves have to be involved in the conversations about projects,” he said. “It’s the likes of the SMEs that are going to help deliver those ambitious targets using that local supply chain, local knowledge, and local resource to contribute to the local area.”
Tameside deputy leader Cllr Andrew McLaren said that there was political willpower to back Craig’s target.
“I think it is achievable,” he said. “I think it’s important that people have to realise that we have to start somewhere.”
He added that pushing for housing, including and especially social and affordable housing, was why he entered politics.
It is a passion Craig shares.
“When I look at waiting lists across Greater Manchester, there are too many people that are waiting for a good home,” she said.
Jigsaw Homes’ Stamford Street Central development has delivered 35 apartments for social rent in the heart of Ashton-under-Lyne. Credit: PNW
Looking ahead
When it comes to the affordable nature of the 50,000 homes she wants to see delivered, Craig declined to go the additional step further from social housing and pledge to put the properties under a Manchester Living Rent or an equivalent tenure.
Manchester Living Rent, another city council initiative from Craig’s tenure as Leader, is set at or below the Local Housing Allowance.
But she did not rule it out.
“I want to see where I get to in the coming weeks with Homes England, because I believe they might have some changes coming to their definitions,” she said, referencing the government’s current categorising of affordable housing as properties offer at 80% of market value and social housing as those offered at 60% of market value.
Craig has another ask of national government beyond changing definitions around what is designated as affordable housing and what is not.
Looking out the window of one of the apartments at Stamford Street Central alongside McLaren, she pointed at a dilapidated former church just opposite.
She told McLaren that she had pitched to national government a forced sell order – a move that would set a time frame for how long private landowners could hold onto blighted sites before being forced to sell.
“This could be one of the first victims,” she told him, looking at the site.
McLaren noted that it had potential – adding that he saw not a problem, but an opportunity.
Craig also teased a future announcement that would see the combined authority tackle the skills crisis in construction. News on that, she said, would be shared in the coming weeks.
Sounds promising, although the land bank idea comes up against the eagerness with which councils including MCC have been merrily disposing of decent sites at market rates or into JVs, having prioritised capital receipts.
Also hopefully Bev will stick with social/LHA rents even if faced with challenges to delivery and not lean back into the expensive “Shared Ownership” flats she was so recently promoting with great enthusiasm via TikTok and elsewhere, and which MCC has been very happy to accept in place of genuinely affordable or even useful contributions to off-site provision.
Even more optimistically, at the same time perhaps the next MCC Leader will promise that the council will start applying its own affordable housing policy consistently across new developments instead of indulging financial engineering and dubious claims that major schemes are barely viable.
By Rotringer
In principle this is a great idea but I hope we don’t finish up with those isolated estates thrown up in outlying towns in the 60s, where people were cut off from everything. Those houses in Ashton look nice. We needs lots and lots of decent social housing but tastefully built.
By Elephant
I really hope the designs think carefully about our future climate. The weather we’ve had this year for example is a reminder we need to plan for very warm, very wet and very cold weather spells as things get more extreme. I’m sure that’s all factored in but having been in a London flat this week we’re going to really struggle in 5/10 years if we don’t plan for worst case scenarios.
By Anonymous
Another set of announcements about future housing, but where are the dates, sites and hard facts?
We’re told 10,000 homes will be delivered through a new Greater Manchester Public Sector Land Bank, with a fifth constructed, on site or through planning within two years. That still leaves around 8,000 homes to deliver, an enormous challenge, particularly when land is already acknowledged as the biggest obstacle.
With a high proportion of affordable homes, how attractive will these schemes actually be to developers?
At 5,000 homes a year from a standing start, we need more than announcements. We need identified land, planning, funding, start dates and delivery targets.
Given the lack of meaningful progress over the last decade, some healthy scepticism is justified.
Less froth, please — more planning and hard facts.
By Steve5839
One point I missed in the earlier post – she (Craig) had pitched to national government a forced sell order; Isn’t this effectively a form of compulsory purchase?
A ‘forced sell order’ would give the public sector the power to require private landowners to sell sites within a specified timeframe. If that is what’s being proposed, surely we should be told exactly what powers are intended, how compensation would work, and who would ultimately bear the cost.”
By Steve5839
The scheme cost £6.9m which equates to roughly £197000 per flat. It required grant of £100,000 per flat. This is without paying for the land.
The rents at £463 pcm and £515 pcm are very affordable but don’t offer a commercial return on finance.
The value of the completed product is less than half the cost/grant to provide.
A completely unviable scheme, that does not make commercial sense without grant funding.
The only winners are the contractors, the consultants, the overpaid civil servants who sign it off and the tenants who don’t work but get brand new homes.
A two tier system is being created in the housing (delivery) market, all at the taxpayers expense.
By Anonymous
Always good to see public sector figureheads point the finger at the private sector over lack of delivery.
Manchester City Council had held the land used for ‘Project 500’ (most acquired by CPO) for around 50 years before deciding to pull their finger out and dispose of it for affordable housing.
By Sam Owen
AII of this is very encouraging, however I do question the impIementation. I corresponded directIy with Bev Craig on two occasions when she was Ieader offering to show case our new and unique MMC product in Greater Manchester and asking for a diaIogue to discuss ways in which we may work together to create new homes at scaIe, quicker than,better than and cheaper than traditionaI buiId. That I did not even get an acknowIedgement does caII inti question the wiII to impIement behind the headIines. The offer stiII stands?!!!!
By David SIeath
@Rotringer, the fact we are thinking about the next GM mayor says it all.
By Idi
@Idi – no, Bev deserves a chance and there may be some hiccups if Andy has actually lured GMCA’s best people over to Heron House (possible Place NW investigation?)
Next Leader of Manchester City Council is an entirely different job.
By Rotringer
Good to see high EPC rated social homes being delivered rather than building expensive Passivhaus accredited schemes. Common sense at last.
By Mr Mcr
Yes £197000 per flat is cheap. Great value for money.
You can buy cheaper existing stock at half the cost, and not have to wait 2 years
By Anonymous
1:39 pm – By Anonymous – you make a fair point in that “A two tier system is being created in the housing (delivery) market, all at the taxpayers expense.”
I’m a refugee from down South who’s ended up in Salford away from family and friends because I was priced out of London where my friends and family where. I wasn’t deemed to qualify for social housing but couldn’t afford private sector rents or to buy a home down there either. I always worked hard full time and it was very unfair that people who never worked got access to homes that were out of my reach. Getting a council flat in London was like winning the golden lottery ticket. Paying £400 a month, whereas an identical flat next door on the private market would go for £2,000 a month. The whole system was unfair. Those who could access social housing (often not working) got homes. Those who were rich or with the bank of mum or dad could get homes. But those of us not born with a silver spoon in our mouths who worked hard but weren’t deemed suitable for social housing had to leave our support networks behind and were priced out of our homes cities.
With private rents in Manchester rocketing I think a two tier system will develop here too with those lucky enough to access social housing given nice homes but many others who work harder priced out of their communities.
By Anonymous
Shocking waste of tax payers money. Bev Craig since she has been appointed mayor seems to be on a mission to burn through as much council cash as possible these people in charge have no respect for tax payers hard earned Money being wasted on pointless stuff. Also forced sell orders are akin to a communist state stealing people’s assets so everything is owned by the state.
By Anonymous