Standing in Hulme, Greater Manchester's housing problems are stark. Glass skyscrapers, built with taxpayer-backed loans, tower above, but rents exceed £2,000 monthly—close to many people's full salary. Meanwhile, tens of thousands languish on housing registers, waiting for a home.
Green Party's 'Revolutionary' Plan
The Green Party, led by mayoral candidate Geraldine Coggins, a Trafford councillor, proposes a 'revolutionary' solution. At a roundtable at NIAMOS, a 'radical arts' centre in Hulme, Coggins outlined a pledge to build 10,000 new homes and refurbish another 10,000, creating a new body, Homes for Greater Manchester. These homes would be rented at local housing allowance rates but not as social housing, avoiding the Right to Buy scheme.
Joining Coggins were Green Party MP Hannah Spencer (with her greyhound Judy), Councillor Thirza Amina Asanga-Rae (Moss Side ward), her daughter Zenobia Asanga, and resident Sally Casey. Their stories were harrowing: overcrowded homes, black mould, and ceilings collapsing. Asanga-Rae shared: “I lived in a property that was overcrowded... I slept on the sofa for about five years. The house was riddled with infestation, black mould, and leaks, to the point where the ceiling fell on my head in the kitchen.”
Funding and Feasibility
Asked about costs, Coggins initially lacked figures, but her team later estimated £4bn would be needed, from central government grants and public lenders. The homes would be built on brownfield land, not green belt, working with Greater Manchester's ten councils. Coggins said: “These are fully researched plans... buying up existing homes, because people can't wait.”
The Greens criticise the Manchester Housing Investment Loans Fund, which lent public cash for skyscraper developments with 'non-existent affordable housing'. Coggins vowed: “I would not hand over cash for luxury flats” and promised stricter lending rules.
Empty Homes and Alternatives
MP Hannah Spencer noted: “There are examples across Greater Manchester where private developers have converted disused spaces like office blocks into homes... But that's another option we need to be looking at.” Councillor Asanga-Rae added: “There are up to nearly 13,000 empty homes that have not been brought back into use... and empty buildings like Sure Start centres that were shut down. It is achievable.”
The housing crisis dominates the race to succeed Andy Burnham as mayor, with candidates needing plans voters can support. For many in Greater Manchester, no issue is bigger.
