The Unheard Stories of Manchester's Housing Crisis

Tenants need to join forces across Manchester neighbourhoods. This was the key message arising from SH4M’s first film screening and campaign workshop at St Cuthbert’s church in Miles Platting yesterday evening.

This was the first in a programme of events that will take place across the city throughout 2025.

What is the City but the People? is a short film co-created by two inspiring women leaders from Moss Side and Wythenshawe to raise awareness about the urgency of the housing crisis across the city.

Screening of What is the City but the People at St. Cuthbert's Church

MPCAN (Miles Platting Community and Age-friendly Network) were the first coalition to host the SH4M campaign to screen the documentary and raise awareness with their local community about easy and urgent actions they themselves can take to support the collective effort to get more social rent homes delivered across the city.

A key focus of the current work is the new Local Plan which will be published for an 8-week consultation in Summer 2025 by Manchester City Council.

Download our Local Plan Handbook here

Download our Campaign Information booklet here

Planning can be very technical and boring! But if you were ever going to engage in planning this is the policy to wake up to! The Local Plan will determine how much housing, what types of housing, and where housing will be developed across the city for at least the next ten years.

Councillors Carmine Grimshaw and June Hitchen were in attendance and promised to add their pledges in support of our headline campaign ask which is for 30% of all new housing developments of 10 homes or above to be homes for social rent. You can view the full list of which councillors have pledged their support here.

You can invite Social Homes for Manchester to come and fun a film screening and workshop in your local area – just email socialhomes4mcr@gmail.com.