There is more than one parallel to be drawn between Manchester and London in recent years, from the soaring central skyline to the city’s growing status on the national political stage. But perhaps the most striking is its housing crisis.
Those on lower incomes here face a perfect storm. As rates of housing benefit for private sector tenants have been largely frozen, cut or capped by government, the city around them has become the poster-child for northern economic renaissance, pushing rents beyond their reach.
Manchester, and therefore Manchester’s housing, is now seriously desirable. There were reportedly no empty units at all in the city centre a few months back, of any kind; however visible the scale of recent residential development has been, it still isn’t meeting demand.
