Crisis declared in Rochdale as 10,000 waiting for homes told of five year wait

A housing emergency has been declared in Rochdale after it was revealed that there are nearly 10,000 rehousing applications in the borough with people having to wait up to five years for a home.

The issue has reached breaking point and is having an immediate impact on everyone from “young families seeking homes to elderly residents waiting for bungalows”, according to a report submitted to the council.

Rochdale Labour Group, which runs Rochdale Borough Council, is now looking at ways to improve the situation for struggling residents.

It is planning to access more family accommodation for residents and limit the use of bed and breakfasts to house people. It also wants to increase the speed of development of affordable housing on unused land, and look at owning its own housing stock again in future.

The motion was passed at a full council meeting on Wednesday 18 October, moving the council’s chief executive to write to the housing minister calling for housing to be given greater priority from the government.

Rochdale Conservatives shared concerns that the plans could be used to build on more green belt land.

Councillor John Taylor, leader of Rochdale Conservatives, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “The housing motion may be well intended but when you look at the national Labour Party it is quite clear that one of the things they wish to achieve is the removal of the right to buy.

“The motion itself was very vague and it could also mean a change to the council’s policy of building on the green belt. I was not given assurances about those which is why we abstained.

“What we should be doing is building houses for local people on brownfield sites and focusing on areas where the infrastructure is in place. Why are we encouraging builders to build on the green belt? Another problem is that many of these new homes are executive houses and not affordable to local people.”

Rochdale is one of the boroughs in Greater Manchester signed up to the Places for Everyone scheme, the region’s long-term plan for housing development.

But it has large areas of green belt land and building on this is a controversial issue in the borough.

Councillor Danny Meredith, Rochdale’s cabinet member for regeneration and housing, said the council is facing “unprecedented housing pressure” and argued that there is a real need for more social housing in the borough.

He said: “I was disappointed that the Conservative group did not support this motion. We are at a time of unprecedented housing pressure, with almost 10,000 applications currently on the housing register.

“That’s why we’re working hard to increase the supply of accessible, affordable accommodation. This work includes working with registered providers, private sector landlords and developers. Working this way puts us in the best position to apply for national and regional funding pots which are designed to support the development of new homes on brownfield land.

“We’ve already been successful in a number of these applications, with new homes set to be built on Whitworth Road and Gowers Street, as a result of recent successful bids for brownfield land funding.

“The Places for Everyone plan, which prioritises the building of new homes on brownfield sites, will result in building on a small proportion of our green belt, to help create a mix of different types of properties. In order for our borough to thrive, our homes needs to cater for people with different income levels and different family sizes, from affordable to executive homes, and the Places for Everyone plan is designed to do just that.

“We are also trying to push for more social housing to be built in the borough . As part of this, I would like to investigate the feasibility of the council purchasing, building and managing social housing stock in the future.”

Declan Carey, Local Democracy Reporter