During this month’s freezing weather, I know many of my constituents in Sale have not had had the privilege of a safe and warm home. Our national housing crisis and broken planning system has left over 1.3 million on housing waiting lists and a generation locked out of home ownership.

However, the government published a new National Planning Policy last month, which seeks to ensure we hit our ambitious target to build 1.5 million new homes in the next few years. In Sale, I’m pleased that 1 in 4 of the new homes being built on the former Magistrates’ Court site will be affordable. We’ll continue to deliver the biggest boost to affordable and social housing in a generation.

Renters in the constituency have told me about their soaring costs, sometimes for poor quality and insecure homes.

The Renters’ Rights Bill introduced this month will ban no fault-evictions, end bidding wars, and protect tenants from damp and mould. The government is making renting more fair, secure and affordable through the most substantial reforms to the sector in over 40 years.

We trust local people to decide where our new homes should be and have tasked councils with creating local housebuilding plans.

We’ve proposed a new Local Government Settlement to increase the spending powers of councils, recognising that over a decade of funding cuts and low growth has left many struggling to balance their budgets. Our proposed settlement will begin the hard work of repairing the finances of councils such as Trafford.

In summary, the government is finally fixing the foundations of our broken housing system through our National Planning Policy, Renters’ Rights Bill and proposed Local Government Settlement.

This abridged article was originally published in the Messenger Newspaper in January 2025.