Burnham's promise to end housing crisis

ANDY Burnham has vowed to end the housing crisis within a decade, promising to build a 'new generation' of 10,000 council homes by 2028.

- JOSEPH TIMAN

In the first announcement following his 'emphatic' re-election last week, the Greater Manchester mayor said he would stop 'boring' people about buses and put housing 'centre stage' in his third term.

The Labour mayor has also called for the Right to Buy scheme, which allows tenants to buy their council homes, to be suspended.

He said that 30,000 new council homes in the city-region should be permanently exempt from the policy with local authorities given powers to suspend the scheme in areas with high demand for social housing.

Mr Burnham also announced that plans to give tenants of private rented housing a right to request a property check will be trialed in part of Greater Manchester later this year.

And he said he would expand his A Bed Every Night emergency accommodation scheme, introduced in his first mayoral term, to tackle the rise in rough sleeping.