Geraldine Coggins, the Green Party’s candidate for Greater Manchester Mayor, has pledged to “end Labour’s developer rip off”, as she set out her 10 year plan to provide 20,000 genuinely affordable homes across Greater Manchester.
The plan involves creating a new publicly owned provider, Homes for Greater Manchester, that will be responsible for purchasing up to 10,000 homes and building up to 10,000 new publicly owned homes.
Homes for people, not profit
Announced as the Green Party candidate for Greater Manchester Mayor on 20th June, Geraldine is vying to become the first Green mayor of a combined mayoral authority when the region goes to the polls on 30 July.
And the Trafford Council Green group leader has put affordable housing at the front of her campaign from the start.
On being announced as the Green mayoral candidate, Geraldine made her priorities clear:
“People are feeling abandoned by Labour and want real change to deliver affordable homes, thriving local communities and a healthier environment. They are tired of being told to settle for less.”
Last week, Geraldine – along with former Trafford council colleague-turned MP Hannah Spencer – met with local housing campaigners to set out her plans to provide affordable housing for Greater Manchester and end Labour’s housing failures.
“As mayor, I will promise 20,000 genuinely affordable homes, overseen by a new public housing body which puts people before profit. Labour has failed in Greater Manchester, providing virtually no new affordable homes. I will end Labour’s developer rip off.”
Ending Labour’s developer rip off
So, how have Labour failed on housing?
Well, in short, they have put private developers’ profits before the housing needs of the people of Greater Manchester.
Labour’s model for housing in Greater Manchester has been to hand over large sums of public money to developers in return for little to no affordable housing.
Under Labour, Manchester Housing Investment Loans Fund loaned out nearly a £1 billion of taxpayer money, 60% of which has gone to one developer Renaker, which – according to a GMCA report – has provided no affordable homes out of the 6,110 homes it has built.
A Green mayor, in contrast, would make public money work for the public good.
As Geraldine said:
“For too long, the failing Labour model has put the interests of developers first, the people of Manchester second, luxury flats first, and virtually non-existent affordable housing.
“I will do things differently. Affordable homes for people. If I am mayor, there will be much stricter lending rules, I will not hand over cash for luxury flats.”
And Geraldine’s ambitious plans for housing in Greater Manchester don’t stop at tightening the authority’s lending rules.
A “housing revolution” for Greater Manchester
As Green Mayor of Greater Manchester, Geraldine would end Labour’s developer-led rip off by setting up a publicly owned provider, Homes for Greater Manchester, to take housing back from big money.
This new public body will create 20,000 affordable homes in Greater Manchester over 10 years – both building new low-carbon homes and using a buy, retrofit, let model to quickly bring empty and derelict homes back into use.
Homes that are purchased will be publicly owned, not for profit, not for property developers but for the people of Greater Manchester. The purchased homes will quickly be made available for rent. Importantly, every penny of rental income will get reinvested, which is not the case for Labour’s private-developer model.
Geraldine’s house building and renovation programme won’t just provide Greater Manchester with the much-needed affordable housing that Labour has failed to deliver; it will also be a big boost to the local economy.
The clear direction, ambition, and timescale of her publicly led plan will drive a green building economic revolution in Greater Manchester, fostering modern specialist industries such as modular homes, to support low cost, high quality homebuilding and thousands of new green jobs across the city region.
Geraldine said:
“The Greens will start a housing revolution in Greater Manchester, real homes, not luxury rip off flats, for families, and house building and renovations of existing homes will kick start a new industrial revolution in Greater Manchester, creating thousands of new jobs and supporting the local economy.”
A win-win for the people and the economy of Greater Manchester.
First Gorton and Denton, next Greater Manchester?
Of course it was no coincidence that Geraldine was joined by Hannah Spencer as she spoke to housing campaigners.
Hannah’s stunning victory in Gorton and Denton – the Green Party’s first ever parliamentary by-election win – changed the course of politics in the region and showed what the party is capable of.
And the task in Greater Manchester is the same: replace a Labour party that is failing the people of Greater Manchester and defeat the hateful politics of Reform.
The voting system for Greater Manchester gives Greens a big advantage: we need to increase our vote by only 2% to beat both Labour and Reform here. A win will elect the most powerful Green we’ve ever had.
We can win again on 30 July – but we’ll need your help.
You can help us replace Labour and defeat Reform. Put up a posterboard, join a phone banking session, or come to an action day; head over to the campaign website to find out how you can help.
Follow this news feed: Green Party