The housing needs of the working-class community across Manchester have been ignored by Labour councillors, according to Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) candidates.
Figures released this week showed there could be 1,500 more families than homes by 2026, and potentially 9,400 more by 2037.
TUSC believe that while more council and social housing is needed, Manchester City Council are focusing too heavily on private schemes, which in turn maximises profit for landlords.
John Neill, TUSC council candidate for Ardwick said: “I recently spoke to a man who had been waiting for a year for the council to finish repairs to his water-damaged home.
“The council have outsourced so many services to private contractors that have no accountability and do shoddy or no work whatsoever.
“Labour has turned their back on the working-class people of this city.”
Under the proposed Manchester devolution, the city is set to receive a £300m Housing Investment Fund in the next ten years.
There is no doubt, TUSC have stated, that the majority of homes built using this money will be sold off to private landlords, when it should be set aside to build and repair council housing.
TUSC believe landlords are ‘taking advantage of a lack of suitable housing’, and bringing in rent control would go some way to help the issue.
Alex Davidson, TUSC Parliamentary candidate for Manchester Central said: “It is true that rent control will not ‘solve’ the housing crisis, for that we need to build more homes.
“Labour’s ‘target’ is to build 200,000 in the last year of a new government. But it is estimated we need 250,000 homes per year just to keep pace with new households.
“Even if their target was achieved the shortage would still be getting worse, but they don’t propose to reverse the cuts to social housing grant or local authority budgets.
“Without doing that even their pathetically inadequate target is likely to prove a pipe dream. To really address the crisis we need to break with austerity.”
Image courtesy of Dan Pope, with thanks.
