Zack Polanski slams Andy Burnham’s ‘shameful record’ on affordable housing as mayor

The Green Party leader Zack Polanski has criticised Andy Burnham’s record on affordable housing as the mayor of Greater Manchester.

Polanski accused Burnham of having a “shameful record” on affordable housing in the county.

In a speech at the Greens’ manifesto launch for their Manchester mayoral campaign, Polanski said it was “unacceptable” that “we’ve had a Labour man who has loaned millions of pounds to private property developers, including hundreds of millions to Renaker”.

He questioned: “And do you know how many affordable homes there are on some of those developments? Not a single one.”

“That is a shameful record on housing, and a Green mayor will change that,” he said.

While Burnham was mayor, the Greater Manchester Combined Authority used a £1.2 billion taxpayer-backed Housing Investment Loan Fund to support the construction of roughly 11,000 homes.

The scheme came under scrutiny for delivering a small proportion of affordable housing. Of the 11,000 homes built between 2015 and 2024, developers delivered only around 500 affordable homes, less than 5% of the total.

The Green Party’s Manchester mayoral candidate, Geraldine Coggins, has pledged to deliver 20,000 social homes as mayor, 10,000 brand new and 10,000 existing homes to be purchased and refurbished. 

Coggins said that these homes would be paid for via loans to councils from the Public Works Loan Board, and by building some homes at market rent to sell off and using the proceeds to develop social homes. 

While Burnham’s record on housing as mayor has been criticised by some, as part of his campaign to become prime minister, he has pledged to deliver the “biggest council house building programme since the post-war period”. 

At her manifesto launch today, Coggins vowed to “take Greater Manchester back from big money”, adding that Labour has a “pitiful record” on genuinely affordable housing in the area.

She said that “Labour’s friends, the big developers” had benefitted significantly from the housing loan fund. 

Coggins accused Labour of having “a cozy relationship” with property developer Renaker, which received 60% of the loans issued through the fund.  

Other pledges that Coggins made at her launch today included giving everyone under the age of 22 free bus travel.

If elected as mayor, the Green councillor also pledged to revitalise high streets across Greater Manchester and make it “the greenest city region” in the country.

Olivia Barber is a reporter at Left Foot Forward