Greater Manchester launches Housing First Unit as costs of temporary accommodation reaches £75m a year

The Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, and the leaders of the city-region’s ten local authorities have launched a new ‘Housing First Unit’ tasked with tackling the roots of the area’s housing crisis.

The move comes as research revealed that:

• each year, renting social housing costs Manchester authorities an estimated £74.6 million. The councils were only able to recover 42% of the £74.6m they spent on temporary accommodation, creating an annual net loss of £43m; 
• some 5,649 households were living in hostels, Bed and Breakfast and other temporary accommodation. These households included 7,679 children; and
• the number of households in temporary accommodation in Greater Manchester has increased by 71% over the last four years, compared with 26% across England.

The Greater Manchester Combined Authority said demand for social housing in the region outstripped supply by 260%.

In 2022/23, there were 13,551 social lettings in Greater Manchester – half as many as ten years ago. There were 86,595 households vying for these properties, of which 35,177 were in a priority group for social housing, the GMCA said.

It added that the Housing First Unit was based on the philosophy that “good health, good education, and good jobs cannot come without a good, permanent home”.

The aims of the unit are:

• increasing housing supply – ensuring that Greater Manchester builds the new homes that the city-region needs, including affordable homes and single-occupancy accommodation. “With the right support, Greater Manchester is ready to deliver 75,000 new homes in the current parliament.”
• driving up housing standards – Protecting renters through the UK’s first Good Landlord Charter and acting against rogue landlords by empowering residents to request a Property Check followed up by enforcement action where necessary.
• supporting Greater Manchester residents – With more devolved powers and funding, homelessness can be prevented by transforming the way residents are supported with education, skills, and health and wellbeing services.

The Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, said: “The £75m our councils are spending on these rents is just the tip of the iceberg. It doesn’t include the cost of finding that housing, let alone the human toll of living in such an insecure situation.

“Our reliance on temporary accommodation has left thousands of families in a limbo that is blighting their life chances and damaging their health and wellbeing. Living in a hostel or B&B makes it harder to cook healthy meals, do homework, hold down a job, see friends and family or visit a doctor when you need to.

“Our Housing First Unit will work to make sure that everyone in Greater Manchester has a home that is safe, secure and sustainable. Giving everyone a good, safe home would be one of the best investments the country could make and would take pressure off other public services and public finances.” 

Portfolio Lead for Housing First, City Mayor of Salford Paul Dennett, said: “The spiralling cost of temporary accommodation represents an existential threat to local government. Following 14 years of previous Government-driven austerity, we’ve seen councils up and down the country going bankrupt, with temporary accommodation placing an ever-bigger burden on their budgets.

“In recent years, the lack of social and council housing has massively increased landlords’ bargaining power, leaving our residents struggling to secure a place to call home. That market pressure has also made it harder for councils to negotiate rates and secure temporary accommodation. Without urgent and radical action, annual financial losses for local authorities will just keep growing, putting further pressure on overstretched budgets, continuing to push councils into bankruptcy.”

Dennett added: “There is no quick fix for this housing crisis which has been 40 years in the making. The Right to Buy has led to chronic under-supply of social and council housing. We’ve lost 24,000 homes to Right to Buy in the past two decades and not enough new homes are being built to replace them. Rising land values, an inability currently to capture land-value uplift in the National Planning Policy Framework, ongoing land assembly challenges, and skills and experiences shortages are also making it harder to build truly affordable housing.”

Harry Rodd