Dear Councillor,
 

I am writing to ask for your support for social rent homes and high environmental standards in the new Local Plan.
 

Thank you if you were one of the councillors who voted to pass the recent motion for a target of 30% affordable homes of which 70% to be for social rent. This means that our city now has a target for 21% of all new housing delivery to be homes for social rent.
 

This is great news, but it is still not high enough.

There will be:

• An 8-week consultation on the new Local Plan will begin in September.

• The Economy and Regeneration Scrutiny Committee will meet to discuss the Local Plan on 2nd September.

• The Executive Committee will meet to discuss the draft Local Plan on 10th September
   

Please advocate for a target of 30% social rent homes to be included in the Plan with your colleagues on each of these committees.
 

Please read this article which explains why we need 30% and how Manchester City Council could go further to avoid the viability loophole that means developers can negotiate their way out of any of their own obligations to build social rent:

https://www.socialhomes4mcr.org.uk/post/a-big-step-forward
 

• Reeves has committed £39 billion to social and affordable housing.

• Raynor has requested 60% of the homes delivered with these funds to be social rent.

• Burnham has confirmed approx. £2.5 billion of this money is coming to GM and wants to maximise social rent delivery across GM in line with Raynor’s requirements.

• Manchester has 20,000 households on the waiting list and over 4.5 thousand children living in Temporary Accommodation getting an unequal start to an unequal future.

 

There is nothing preventing Manchester City Council from setting a target of 30% social rent in all new developments of 10 homes or above in the new Local Plan.

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If you have not yet added your pledge for 30% please complete this google form: https://www.socialhomes4mcr.org.uk/local-concillors-pledge-your-support.

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Other local authorities with varying contexts including similar land values are managing to set targets higher than 30% including higher environmental standards and ask developers to pay their share and then enforce those obligations:

 

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The inclusion of this target in the Local Plan is a political decision. 

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The Executive Committee has the power to make this happen - bringing the numbers of homeless down, reducing fuel bills, and securing a better future for our children.

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Thank you for listening.

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