Greater Manchester plans to build nearly 30,000 new homes backing the Government’s housing mission by delivering 75,000 new homes in this parliament – including more net-zero, affordable, and single-occupancy homes
Mayoral Development Corporations in Old Trafford, Stockport and the Northern Gateway alone are set to deliver 27,250 new homes over the next 15 years, while Victoria North in the city centre and north Manchester will add another 15,000
Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham said:
“If we are serious about securing the long-term success of Greater Manchester, we need to free ourselves from the grip of the housing crisis.
“Because of the decisions we’ve taken, Greater Manchester is now building more affordable homes than at any point since the turn of the millennium.
“We need to keep building on that momentum until we reach a tipping point where we build more social homes than we lose.
“We’re determined to ensure that every person in Greater Manchester has access to the safe and secure home they need in order to thrive.”
Unlocking brownfield land
Since 2020, Greater Manchester has invested £135.4m from the Brownfield Housing Fund to redevelop underused brownfield land and deliver thousands of new homes.
Brownfield land can be difficult to bring forward for development, owing to issues including soil contamination and the need to remove existing structures. These challenges are often expensive to overcome – and can deter developers from building on brownfield sites.
In those five years, we have provided grants delivering more than 15,000 homes – with just over 45 per cent on average being affordable tenure types, compared with an average of 20 per cent for all Greater Manchester developments in that time. A fifth of all homes supported by the Brownfield Housing Fund to date are for social rent.
Around a quarter of all homes funded through grants have reached practical completion, ahead of schedule.
As part of the Trailblazer devolution deal signed in 2023, Greater Manchester agreed an extension to the Brownfield Housing Fund to accelerate building the good, affordable homes we need. This additional funding has allowed us to continue developing on challenging sites across the region.
The Brownfield Housing Fund also puts a greater focus on energy efficiency – helping Greater Manchester deliver the net-zero homes we need to reduce emissions and ease pressure on household energy bills.
The Fund has also enabled us to deliver key infrastructure and unlock the full potential of brownfield developments – including at Victoria North, the biggest urban regeneration project in the North of England, set to deliver more than 15,000 new homes, employment space, schools, and GP surgeries.
Further funding allocations are anticipated for the summer, supplementing those approved previously and the successful delivery of thousands of new homes to date.
In recent years, demand for social housing in Greater Manchester has outstripped supply. In 2023/24, there were 13,422 social lettings in Greater Manchester – half as many as ten years ago. That is reflected in the 5,421 households, including 7,819 children, living in temporary accommodation in December
As part of the recent Spending Review, the Government announced £39bn in grants for spending on social and affordable housing over the next 10 years.
Greater Manchester will look to use its funding to deliver the biggest return for social housing, with the aim of building more social homes than we are losing within the four years of the Spending Review period.
