Tomorrow, Thursday, 20th July, will see Salford City Mayor, Paul Dennett, lead a new 'vision' for housing across Greater Manchester, as GM Mayor, Andy Burnham's lead for 'housing, planning and homelessness'.
The conference, at Salford Lads Club, is hosted by the National Housing Federation and the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, and Dennett will, apparently, 'describe his vision of working with housing providers to get vital homes built, as well as highlight the impact of a lack of genuinely affordable housing in the region...'
Salford City Council has had a deliberate policy over the last decade of bulldozing affordable homes, in favour of homes for 'young professionals', while developers have been let off with over a thousand affordable homes that should have been secured through Section 106 agreements.*
In response to the 'housing crisis' in Greater Manchester, after the Conference , homeless campaigners, Loose Space, we will be leading a procession, from Salford Lads Club to Hulme Hippodrome for an event to raise awareness of the effects of the housing crisis.
A few weeks ago a community of squatters were violently evicted from their home at the Hotspur Press building in Manchester, where five people were arrested...
"This was a traumatic event for residents in the building and many squatters everywhere" states Loose Space "Many have seen clips of the event and many here are upset by the way it unfolded. We feel as though our side has not been told and our story is not being heard.
"In this country, people were once allowed to make use of unused and abandoned spaces in the city, for the purpose of building temporary homes and projects that benefit the community" the organisation adds "Grass roots projects like these have helped the disenfranchised everywhere but due to changes in acts of Parliament, squatters now live in constant fear of eviction, making it impossible to live in peace or organise ourselves.
"We want to bring attention to the fact that it is now becoming harder and harder for people to be autonomous; it is becoming impossible for the homeless and disenfranchised to build themselves out of poverty without relying on the state" they explain "Autonomy may not feed into the economy but this is because it allows people to feed themselves directly; with autonomy, there is liberty. It is important to gather and discuss these issues because there is power in unity and power in knowing."
The event outside the Hulme Hippodrome will include, food, dance, music and lots of talk.
The Future of Housing in Greater Manchester Conference
Thursday 20th 12:30-3:30pm free
Salford Lads Club, St Ignatius Walk, M5 3RX
For further details click here
Loose Space Procession from Salford Lads Club to Hulme Hippodrome follows the conference
Then: 4:30pm -7pm at Hulme Hippodrome
Hotspur Speaks: The Voice of Us & Us
For further details see the Facebook event page click here
* For a full background see previous Salford Star article on the Causes of the Social Housing Crisis in Salford click here
See also previous related Salford Star articles -
Salford Mayor Wins Mary Burns Award For Social Housing - click here
Social Housing Hypocrisy Award - click here