Star date: 28th June 2016 

`POLITICIANS CAUSED THE HOUSING CRISIS'

Banners, placards and even a stunning piece of activist artwork spelt out the message to delegates at the Chartered Institute of Housing 2016 Conference at Manchester Central (GMex) tonight, as politicians, developers and capitalism were cited as reasons for the housing crisis that's hit places like Salford and Manchester.

"Houses, communities and cities should not be assets to be bought and sold but homes and places for people to live" said Cormac O'Neil of Greater Manchester Housing Action.

Full details here...

As the politicians in Westminster tore themselves apart, and the business world continued to reel from the fallout of the Brexit vote, housing campaigners took to the square outside Manchester Central, or GMex, to let delegates to the Chartered Institute of Housing 2016 Conference know exactly who is to blame for the crisis affecting cities like Salford and Manchester.

Housing 2016, as it's known, is the largest gathering of housing companies, consultants and developers in Europe, with the likes of Urban Splash, Keepmoat and Legal and General having a presence (see previous Salford Star article – click here).

The Conference was discussing the `future of housing', and banners and placards spelt out answers with messages like `Politicians Caused The Housing Crisis', `Social Housing, Not Social Cleansing' and `Blame Capitalism Not Migrants', while a creative piece of artwork courtesy of the Manchester Activist Network painted a picture of `All For One – None For All'.

The good natured protest was met with a slight police overkill of horses, liaison officers and police cars stationed a few yards away. But some delegates were eager to talk to the campaigners and listen to the speakers, including Cormac O'Neil of Greater Manchester Housing Action, who spoke of citizens' plight at the hands of developers and speculators...

"Housing quality decreases for the people who can't afford to live in luxury developments, and people's rental situation becomes more and more precarious and vulnerable to exploitation as social housing is sold off" he said

"Developers are driving this process of upward pressure on prices, forcing people further and further out of cities and destroying communities in places like Salford, with its close proximity to the big economic hub of central Manchester where prices are rising massively" he added "The Telegraph has found that Manchester is now the most profitable place in the country for buy to let landlords, rents were up 20% last year, 2,000 tenants were evicted in the wider region and homelessness is at its highest in decades.

"Houses, communities and cities should not be assets to be bought and sold but homes and places for people to live" he explained "That's why we're gathered outside Housing 16 demanding decent affordable housing...We need social housing, we need regulation of the often exploitative private rental sector and, in the meantime, we need to enable and empower people to arrange their own grass roots solutions such as co-operatives, tenants unions and squats."

*Greater Manchester Housing Action is holding a Our Homes Your Assets Panel Discussion tomorrow, Wednesday 29th June 6pm-8:30pm, which will include a section by the editor of the Salford Star.
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