Homes for Us Alliance Demands Rent Control in Manchester: Rally Success & Key Demands
Food & Solidarity, 9 July 2025
Homes for Us Alliance Demands Rent Control in Manchester: Rally Success & Key Demands
On 24 June 2025, the Homes for Us Alliance demonstrated at Manchester's Housing Leadership Symposium, where seven mayors and major developers met, demanding that rent control powers be devolved to local mayors. The action followed a Newcastle strategy meeting hosted by Food & Solidarity on 1 June and led directly to a meeting with Andy Burnham.
What the Action Won
The Manchester demonstration drew large public support and was heard by seven mayors and major housing developers inside the Housing Leadership Symposium. The positive feedback from conference attendees confirmed the impact.
The direct result: Andy Burnham agreed to meet five Homes for Us Alliance members on 8 August 2025 to discuss rent control powers for mayors. Read about the Andy Burnham meeting →
The Manchester Rally, 24 June 2025
Homes for Us Alliance rally, Manchester, 24 June 2025. Placards: Rent Control Now.
The Housing Leadership Symposium on 24 June 2025 brought seven mayors and major housing developers together in Manchester. While developers were expected to push profit-driven interests, the Homes for Us Alliance ensured that social justice campaigners were equally present, on the street outside, making the political cost of ignoring the housing crisis visible to everyone walking in.
The demonstration drew large numbers of passers-by who joined as it unfolded. The core demand was clear: devolve rent control powers to local mayors, so that cities like Manchester, Newcastle, and Liverpool can regulate rents without waiting for Westminster to act.
The impact was confirmed by positive feedback from attendees at the conference itself. And it produced a concrete result: Andy Burnham's office agreed to a meeting.
From Newcastle: The Strategy Meeting That Started It
Homes for Us Northern Meetup, hosted by Food & Solidarity, Newcastle, June 2025
On 1 June 2025, Food & Solidarity hosted the first Northern regional strategy meeting of the Homes for Us Alliance at Alsham Restaurant in Newcastle. Representatives from member organisations across the region attended.
The central focus was the call for rent control. The argument: once rent control is achieved, it becomes easier to compel the government to build more accessible homes. Rent control empowers low-income earners by making housing more affordable and stable, preventing arbitrary rent hikes, enabling families to plan with greater certainty, and protecting tenants from exploitation by profit-driven landlords.
The meeting also reaffirmed the support of all attending organisations for Food & Solidarity's No Child Poverty campaign (also called No More Growing Up Poor / No to the Benefit Cap), which had recently won overwhelming endorsement from Newcastle City Council.
At the close of the gathering, all organisations reached consensus on the programmes of action, including the Manchester demonstration that followed three weeks later.
The Five Demands
The Homes for Us Alliance campaigns around five specific demands:
- Construction of three million new social homes
- Public buy-back of substandard private rental properties
- An end to the sell-off of affordable homes
- Regulation of rents and service charges
- Fair taxation of landlords
The Alliance argues that these measures together create the conditions for a housing system that treats homes as a right rather than a commodity. Rent regulation is the immediate priority, the political lever that, once applied, opens space for the others.
Who Is the Homes for Us Alliance
The Homes for Us Alliance is a national coalition of grassroots housing organisations, facilitated by the New Economics Foundation. Food & Solidarity has two elected representatives in the Alliance, one of whom sits on the national steering group.
Member organisations include:
- Food & Solidarity
- Acorn
- Black South West Network
- Caring in Bristol
- Hands Off Our Homes
- Disability Rights UK
- Fairer Housing
- Generation Rent
- Greater Manchester Tenants Union
- London Renters Union
- New Economics Foundation
Food & Solidarity joined the Homes for Us Alliance in February 2025. Our work connecting food insecurity, housing injustice, and direct action made us a natural partner, and the Newcastle strategy meeting on 1 June was the first time we hosted the Alliance's Northern organising in our city.
The Alliance's national march on 18 April 2026 through Central London is the next major escalation, building on Manchester, the Andy Burnham meeting, and the October 2025 Alliance Summit. Read why we're marching on 18 April →
Join the Fight for Rent Control
Food & Solidarity is on the national steering group of the Homes for Us Alliance. We march in Manchester, we sit at the table with Andy Burnham, and we do the local work, court support, food parcels, eviction defence, that makes national campaigns possible. Join us.
Become a Member 18 April March →Frequently Asked Questions
What happened at the Homes for Us Alliance Manchester rally?
On 24 June 2025, the Homes for Us Alliance demonstrated outside Manchester's Housing Leadership Symposium, attended by seven mayors and major housing developers. The Alliance demanded that rent control powers be devolved to local mayors. The action drew large public participation and was heard inside the conference. It directly led to Andy Burnham agreeing to meet five Alliance members on 8 August 2025.
What are the five demands of the Homes for Us Alliance?
Three million new social homes; public buy-back of substandard private rentals; an end to the sell-off of affordable homes; regulation of rents and service charges; and fair taxation of landlords.
What is the Homes for Us Alliance?
A national coalition of grassroots housing organisations facilitated by the New Economics Foundation. Members include Food & Solidarity, Acorn, Disability Rights UK, Generation Rent, Greater Manchester Tenants Union, London Renters Union, and others. Food & Solidarity has two elected representatives, including one on the national steering group.
Why did the Alliance demonstrate in Manchester specifically?
The Housing Leadership Symposium on 24 June 2025 brought together seven mayors and major housing developers in one place. The Alliance demonstrated to make its demands visible to decision-makers at the moment they were meeting, and to counterbalance developer lobbying with the organised voice of tenants and communities.
What is Food & Solidarity's role in the Homes for Us Alliance?
Food & Solidarity joined the Alliance in February 2025 and elected two representatives, including one to the national steering group. Food & Solidarity hosted the first Northern regional strategy meeting at Alsham Restaurant in Newcastle on 1 June 2025, and its members marched in Manchester on 24 June. The organisation links its local work, food parcels, eviction defence, housing disrepair, directly to the national rent control campaign.
