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Authorities prepare to ‘turn the tide’ on Greater Manchester’s housing crisis

Emily Sergeant - 1st July 2025

Greater Manchester is preparing to ‘turn the tide’ on its housing crisis by building new homes and protecting renters.

Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) has set out its comprehensive plan to connect communities to new jobs and opportunities, drive up standards across the rental sector, and build new homes – with the latter helping to fulfil its Housing First ambition give everyone access to a ‘safe, secure, and affordable’ home by 2038.  

This week has already seen a ‘renewed focus’ on driving up housing standards thanks to the naming of the first supporters of Greater Manchester’s bold new Good Landlord Charter.

New analysis also shows that GMCA’s Brownfield Housing Fund, which was set up in 2020, has already provided grants to deliver more than 15,000 homes, with an average of just over 45% being affordable housing.

But, there’s still a long way to go.

🏡 Today at #Housing2025, we marked a major milestone: Over 50% of rented homes in Greater Manchester are now covered by the Good Landlord Charter 🎉

@salford_mayor said 🗣️ ”I want to call to action all landlords to get in touch and become a support of the charter today” pic.twitter.com/3cjthNQbVz

— Greater Manchester Combined Authority (@greatermcr) June 26, 2025

GMCA says those recent successes will not stand alone, but rather support plans to deliver more social housing than is lost across the region. 

Unlocking brownfield land is what authorities claim is the key to turning the tide on the housing crisis, as since its inception in 2020, as mentioned, Greater Manchester has invested a whopping £135.4 million from the Brownfield Housing Fund to redevelop underused brownfield land, which ultimately delivered thousands of new homes.

It’s anticipated that further funding allocations will come in the summer to supplement those already approved and in the works.

GMCA is also using the power of Mayoral Development Corporations (MDC) – which are statutory bodies set up by the Mayor Andy Burnham, designed to speed up development and attract investment within a specific area – to unlock regeneration opportunities, as these ‘pioneering’ tools bring together local partners and drive forward the authority’s ambitions to build new homes, bring jobs and investment, and support economic growth.  

Some of these MDCs currently include Old Trafford (part of the proposed Western Gateway Mayoral Development Zone), the expanded Stockport MDC, and the Northern Gateway MDC (part of Atom Valley).

Together, these three alone are expected to deliver 27,250 homes over the next 15 years to help address the housing crisis. 

“If we are serious about securing the long-term success of Greater Manchester, we need to free ourselves from the grip of the housing crisis,” commented Mayor Andy Burnham.

“Because of the decisions we’ve taken, Greater Manchester is now building more affordable homes than at any point since the turn of the millennium. We need to keep building on that momentum until we reach a tipping point where we build more social homes than we lose.

Read more:

• Andy Burnham declares 2025 as Manchester’s year for ‘restoring local control’
• Work finally begins on site of UK’s first majority LGBTQ+ housing scheme in Manchester
• First look at major new multi-million pound Rochdale housing scheme with 200+ homes

“We’re determined to ensure that every person in Greater Manchester has access to the safe and secure home they need in order to thrive.” 

Featured Image – James Feaver (via Unsplash)