The ‘King of the North’ calls for more PRS legislation

The Mayor of Great Manchester and frontrunner in the not-yet-announced Labour leadership race, Andy Burnham, called for a Housing First philosophy for the country and declared: “Since the 1980s, housing has increasingly been treated as a commodity to be bought and sold. If you see housing purely like that, you end up with a housing crisis and that’s exactly where we are.”

Speaking on a podcast interview shortly before signalling his leadership intentions, he said: “When you think of the Renters’ Rights Act as it is now, obviously major legislation on renting, as well as a different approach being taken nationally on social housing and the funding that was secured by Angela Rayner before she left government, the £39 billion, that is a significant investment over a decade.

“We continue to argue for the maximum to be devoted to social housing. I would actually devote all of it to social housing.

“We live with the reality of the housing crisis. It’s our councils who have to deal with the homeless.

“I hope we can persuade the government to go further down the path of legislating in the Private Rented Sector. I’d like to see three strikes and you’re out for those landlords who refuse to invest in their properties to bring them up to a decent standard.”

Speaking on the Social Housing Podcast, Burnham offered a clue to what wider housing policy might look like if he was to succeed Keir Starmer as the next Party Leader and Prime Minister.

“I still strongly believe in Housing First as the national philosophy. We really haven’t had that approach in this country since the post-war years, when decent housing was understood to be the nation’s top priority.

And Burnham said he wanted significant reform of Homes England – the government’s housing and regeneration deliver agency.

“There is still too much scheme-by-scheme micromanagement. They need to become more of an investor with us: back the city region, let us get on with delivery, and then hold us accountable for cumulative outputs across Greater Manchester rather than every individual project.” 

Burnham’s insights on what needs to change in housing policy are particularly timely, given how prominently this agenda is expected to feature in any leadership campaign.

You can listen to the podcast here;