Reform falsely claims Andy Burnham has not built any social housing in Manchester as mayor
The Reform mayoral candidate falsely claimed Andy Burnham had not built any social housing in Manchester during his nine years as mayor.
Sian Astley, who is in the race to become the next Greater Manchester to replace Mr Burnham, who has resigned as MP, told Reform UK: podcast on July 6, 2026: “I think there are over 20,000 households on the Manchester housing register and they haven’t built social housing for decades.”
Podcast host Ray Addison responded: “Obviously, he’s been mayor of Manchester for 10 years. One would have thought he would have made a little more progress on that.”
But official government figures analyzed IndependentIt shows thousands of social and affordable homes have been built across the region during Mr Burnham’s tenure.
reform was said Independent He said Ms Astley had “misspoke” and later explained that building social housing was “not a priority for Manchester City Council and the GMCA”.
The party said it had made clear that Manchester had not built enough social housing in recent years.
The claim comes just days before Mr Burnham is expected to become prime minister after securing the support of 369 of the party’s 403 MPs; This makes it mathematically impossible for a rival to replace Sir Keir Starmer as leader, meaning he is set for a coronation.
Mr Burnham has promised the biggest town hall building program “since the post-war period” under his leadership, but has not yet said how it will be financed.
There is a serious housing crisis in the UK. 1.3 million households It is currently on social housing waiting lists in England, according to Shelter. The housing charity found that at the current pace of delivery it would take 119 years to clear the backlog.
Affordable housing includes both rental and for-sale homes offered at at least 20 percent below local market prices to people who cannot pay private market rates because of low earnings or unemployment.
Government figures show 18,433 affordable and social homes were completed in Greater Manchester between 2017 and 2025. Of these, 2,368 were specifically social rented homes, according to the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA). In the same period, 467,743 affordable homes were delivered across England.
In 2025 alone, 611 new social homes were delivered for rent in Greater Manchester. This figure is the highest annual figure since 2011. Independent by GMCA.
However, the area continues to face significant demand for social housing; 97,000 households on the waiting list and more than 26,000 households were identified as primarily in need of a social rented home.
GMA and Mr. Burnham have been approached for comment.
