In late 2024, community reporters from the Social Homes for Manchester coalition began filming with production company On Our Radar to create a documentary exposing the crisis in social rent housing in the city of Manchester and highlighting their role establishing a new Commission focused on accelerating delivery of sustainable homes for social rent.
The Commission joins together tenants, community organisations, campaigners, political leaders and officers at Manchester City Council, public and voluntary sector housing and planning professionals, and academics in a shared purpose: “to achieve accelerated delivery of housing for social rent that is ecologically sustainable in the City of Manchester by 2030”.
The documentary ‘What is the City but the People?’ follows Thirza Asanga-Rae and Zoe Marlow as they share their experiences navigating the housing system and work to overhaul it.
Thirza Asanga-Rae
Thirza is one of the commissioners spearheading the group’s action.
Speaking in the documentary of the trauma she experienced living in social housing with four young children, she is determined to affect change at a city and government level.
“All we want is to be heard, and all we want is a seat at the table to be able to shape the community we live in,” Thirza states.
“I want better for my children and the next generation.”
Zoe, who manages a foodbank in Wythenshawe, was recently featured in an article in the Manchester Evening News, in which she shared her difficulties obtaining a suitable social home.
Zoe Marlow
“The space you where you live is supposed to be your safe space,” Zoe tells us in the documentary. “And it doesn’t feel like that.”
The film also documents the launch of a new policy brief co-authored by GDI’s Isis Barei-Guyot at the House of Lords. The briefing sets out findings on the scale of the housing crisis in England and Manchester in particular.
The brief highlights the loss of over 16,000 social rented homes in Manchester since 1979, largely through Right to Buy sales, while the waiting list for social housing currently stands at 17,836 households. The commission also outlines the spiking rates of homelessness in the city, with Manchester seeing the second highest local rate of homelessness and the highest local rate of temporary accommodation in England outside of London (three times the national average).
On the 20th November 2024, Thirza, Zoe and other Social Housing Commissioners attended the House of Lords under invitation from the Bishop of Manchester, Dr David Walker. Here, Thirza and Zoe shared their stories with the assembly, while the commission outlined their five urgent demands:
- Reinvest in social rent
- Reform planning to prioritise sustainable social rent in affordable housing delivery
- Rethink the Right to Buy
- Retrofit long-term empty homes for sustainable social rent
- Embed community voice and ownership into the planning system
The Social Homes for Manchester campaign is also calling on Manchester City Council to commit to social homes making up 30% of all new developments over 10 units.
The housing commission will soon be releasing their extended report on England’s housing crisis. In the meantime, you can join the campaign at www.socialhomes4mcr.org.uk.
Watch the documentary in full here.
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