Sale of public land could deliver ‘massive wins’ for social housing supply, says Andy Burnham

Mr Burnham said by changing this and releasing public land, the Treasury “wins in a different way” in the long run by “building more better, regenerative, productive local economies”.

For example, he said the next government could devolve train stations to the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA), so it could build on the land around them and some of the proceeds will come back into improving the station.

“That’s a simple thing that you can do, and these are the kind of wins I think the government – if it is to be a Labour government – needs to get into really, really quickly,” Mr Burnham said.

He added: “It’s not all about just going to the government now saying, ‘give us more money’. I’m actually going to go to Rachel Reeves [Labour’s shadow chancellor] with some ideas.”

On his plans to build 10,000 new homes in Greater Manchester by 2028, Mr Burnham said that the city has a land commission where it is working with public bodies and government departments to free up public land.

“We know where those homes can go, we are just basically waiting for a government to put in place more incentives to get building,” he said.

Right to Buy

Mr Burnham said that while the “Westminster world” often doesn’t like to have a conversation about the issue of the Right to Buy, it will need to.

“In an era of constrained public resources, how are councils going to take the risk of building new homes for social rent if that could just evaporate in a few years’ time?” he said.

“The money that you put forward to build could just go. It’s not prudent, is it? You can’t fix the housing crisis without significantly increasing the social rented stock.”

The mayor’s housing plan, unveiled in May, includes a formal request to government for powers to suspend the Right to Buy on new council homes and to allow wider suspension at the request of councils in areas where “pressure on social housing is greatest”.

Meanwhile, Labour’s manifesto, released ahead of this month’s general election, does not advocate for the abolishment of the Right to Buy.

It said that if elected to power, the party would better protect existing stock by reviewing the increased Right to Buy discounts introduced in 2012 and increasing protections on newly built social housing.

Rent controls

Mr Burnham said that there is a “strong argument” for rent controls in the private rented sector, “or certainly a kind of a framework within which rent increases should be considered”.

He said that young people moving to Greater Manchester are struggling to find somewhere in the city where they can afford to rent.

Mr Burnham added that the “dysfunctional housing market becomes a barrier to growth” as it can stop people moving to the city.

“You do have to do it carefully [introduce rent controls],” he said. “I know the Scottish experiences haven’t been brilliant, and so you have to learn from that. But I do think we need a strengthened Renters Reform Act.”

Multi-agency housing support

Mr Burnham said that the GMCA is building a “multi-agency capability that can intervene in a significant way in housing”, and then will “consider more enforcement coming out of that”.

This includes the Greater Manchester Housing First unit, as announced in the mayor’s housing plan, which is based on Housing First, an approach to ending homelessness through housing and support provision.

He said this unit will consist of three teams, one focusing on the supply of new homes, a support team looking more at homelessness and temporary accommodation and a standards team.