A Reform mayoral candidate has falsely claimed that Andy Burnham has not built any social housing in Manchester during his nine years as mayor.
Sian Astley, who is standing in the race to be the next Greater Manchester to replace Mr Burnham who resigned to stand as an MP, told the Reform UK podcast on 6 July 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, saying: “Obviously, he’s been mayor of Greater Manchester for 10 years. One might have thought he’d have made a bit more progress with that.”
But official government figures, analysed by The Independent, show thousands of social and affordable homes have been built across the region during Mr Burnham’s tenure.
Reform told The Independent that Ms Astley had “mis-spoke” and later clarified that building social housing had “not been the priority for Manchester City Council and the GMCA”.
The party said she clearly meant that Manchester had not built enough social housing in recent decades.
The claim comes days before Mr Burnham is expected to become prime minister after he received the backing of 369 of the party’s 403 MPs, making it mathematically impossible for a rival to enter the leadership contest to replace Sir Keir Starmer, meaning he is set for a coronation.
Mr Burnham has pledged the largest council house-building programme “since the post-war period” under his leadership, but he has not yet said how it would be funded.
England has a significant housing crisis, with more than 1.3 million households currently on social housing waiting lists in England, according to Shelter. The housing charity found that at the current rate of delivery, it would take 119 years to clear the backlog.
Affordable housing includes both rented and homes for sale that are provided at least 20 per cent below local market prices for people who cannot afford to pay private market rates due to low earnings or because they are out of work.
Government figures show that between 2017 and 2025, 18,433 affordable and social homes were completed across Greater Manchester. Of these, 2,368 were homes specifically for social rent, according to the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA). Across England, 467,743 affordable homes were delivered over the same period.
In 2025 alone, 611 new social homes were delivered for rental in Greater Manchester —the highest annual figure since 2011, according to figures shared with The Independent by the GMCA.
But the region continues to face significant demand for social housing — with more than 97,000 households on waiting lists and more than 26,000 identified as being in priority need of a social rented home.
GMA and Mr Burnham have been approached for comment.
