It's Time for a Social Rent Revolution: Launch of Commission Recommendations

Today we launch the final report and recommendations of the Manchester Social Housing Commission (July 2024 - December 2025).

The Commission brought together social housing tenants, grassroots community organisations, senior public and voluntary sector leaders, housing and planning professionals, academics, housing campaigners, politicians and officers at Manchester City Council for a shared purpose: to achieve accelerated delivery of ecologically sustainable housing for social rent in the City of Manchester by 2030. 

The Commission was created by the Social Homes for Manchester coalition (SH4M), a network of community and voluntary sector organisations in the city formed in 2023 with the aim of building a city-wide movement for housing justice.

Local Manchester communities had had enough of watching ‘luxury’ high-rise towers being erected across the city’s booming skyline whilst records were being broken for levels of homelessness and children living long-term in poor quality temporary accommodation.

For them, the answer was obvious: it was time for a new generation of social rent homes, built in response to evidenced need not profit, with rents set in proportion to local incomes, and providing a secure, lifetime tenancy.

SH4M also recognised that the climate and cost of living crises are critical aspects of the housing emergency. Reducing emissions through improving housing standards, retrofitting existing stock and building homes with better insulation and on-site renewable energy production will also address socio-economic inequality by reducing energy bills.

Importantly, the Commission has comprised one third Community Commissioners: residents with direct experience of the housing crisis who in most cases have spent decades organising to protect their community’s right to the city. 

The Commission’s final report has three key objectives:

1.       To set out the substantive case for an acceleration of building sustainable homes for social rent. 

2.       To present our key recommendations and assess progress achieved to date.

3.       To reflect on the process we have followed, in support of more and better public participation in policymaking.

The SH4M coalition is the legacy structure which will take forward these findings and recommendations and seek to maximise implementation, working always in partnership with community leaders across Manchester, Greater Manchester and England. The coalition will publish an annual progress tracker against these recommendations each year at least until the next General Election.

Read the full report here.