The Mayor of Salford has pledged to build hundreds of new council homes over the next four years if re-elected. Paul Dennett made the promise for the “desperately needed” homes to tackle a “crisis” of housing and homelessness in the city. Around 600 new homes could be built in total through the council’s development company Dérive. These would be made up of one and two-bedroom apartments, as well as two, three, and four-bedroom family houses. This includes 198 new homes and apartments under construction by the council for Dérive in Weaste, Charlestown and Little Hulton, 201 homes subject to planning approval or recently approved in Ordsall, Weaste and Cadishead, and 225 being built by partners in Little Hulton, Seedley and Blackfriars and Trinity. The cost of building the new homes was not provided. The Mayor of Salford is seeking re-election for a third term in office in May. He said: “We need a revolution when it comes to council housing, we desperately need more homes built for social rent to tackle the housing and homelessness crisis. “The scarcity of affordable housing and homelessness continue to be major issue for residents in the city, with numbers of people presenting as homeless and numbers in temporary accommodation increasing year on year.” Conservative councillor Robin Garrido, leader of the opposition at Salford council, said: “I agree we need more homes, that’s extremely important. But I don’t believe Dérive is the vehicle to achieve that. “We have some very good RPs [registered providers] in this city – they have achieved considerable improvements in the amount of social housing and other types of housing as well.” Dérive was set up in 2017 and has acquired or built over 200 new family houses and apartments since then. Mr Dennett added that children and young people would be at the heart of his plans if he wins another term in office. Salford is facing a shortage of housing similar to many parts of Greater Manchester. Homelessness is a growing problem in the city, and in December the council was forced to open an emergency overnight shelter with up to 40 beds which were filled straight away. This was set up with sunloungers and blow-up beds for rough sleepers to spend the night. Mr Dennett blamed the government’s accelerated asylum policy for the increase in homelessness, claiming it has seen asylum seekers evicted from funded accommodation and left with nowhere to stay.
