Affordable housing, buzzing high streets and free bus travel for under 22 years olds are at the heart of the Green Party’s vision for Greater Manchester which was unveiled today at Niamos Radical Arts Centre in Hulme.
Party leader Zack Polanski and Gorton and Denton MP Hannah Spencer joined mayoral candidate Geraldine Coggins to set out her plan for a fairer and more affordable region.
If Geraldine Coggins is elected mayor, she will deliver 20,000 genuinely affordable and publicly owned homes over a decade. 10,000 existing homes would be purchased, refurbished and made available to let quickly while 10,000 new publicly-owned homes are being built.
Labour has failed on affordable housing. Over the ten years between 2015 and 2024, the Greater Manchester Combined Authority’s Housing Investment Loans Fund supported nearly 11,000 homes, yet fewer than five per cent were affordable and even fewer were for social rent.
The homes delivered by the Green Party will be set at a genuinely affordable level and Geraldine will campaign to Westminster for rent controls to bring down rents across the whole of Greater Manchester.
Labour’s model has failed and been reliant on handing over large sums of money to developers who have produced rip off luxury flats in the centre, while the outer boroughs lack investment and opportunity.
The Greens will revive high streets with a £10 million fund to help councils and community groups take over empty shops.
On transport, a Green mayor would help young people who are among the hardest hit by the affordability crisis, by making bus travel free for everyone under the age of 22 years. They would
Geraldine Coggins said:
“I am proud to launch my plan today. If I am elected, I will take Greater Manchester back from big money.
“People over profit, I pledge 20,000 genuinely affordable homes, free bus travel for our young people and will breathe new life into our struggling high streets.
“We need real change, not more Labour tinkering around at the edges and putting up dodgy skyscrapers to enrich developers not the ordinary people of Greater Manchester.
“Greater Manchester deserves better than Labour’s failed model and we must stop Reform at all costs. Our vision of hope contrasts with Reform’s division and scapegoating of vulnerable people. In Greater Manchester, we are good neighbours not strangers.”
Zack Polanski said:
“Geraldine has a vision for a Greater Manchester that works for everyone. Genuinely affordable housing. Tackling the rampant inequality that blights this city. Giving everyone who lives here a say in how things are run.
“But Geraldine is also ready to take the fight to Westminster – using her voice to demand real change from the government when they try to get away with half-measures or turn their backs on the people they were elected to represent.
“Geraldine is ready to hit the ground running – and she’s here to stay. She’s been representing Trafford for eight years and she’s got a plan to make bold, rapid change – and set Greater Manchester up for the long term.”
