Moss Side housing and no-fault evictions are leaving families without a home

• Thirza Asanga-Rae spoke to The NQ about poor housing conditions in Moss Side
• There has been a 32% increase in No-fault evictions in England
• GMTU have concerns about the negative impacts of Airbnb’s on family homes

Greater Manchester Tenants Union are fighting on behalf of Moss Side to gain back control and put a stop to poor housing conditions.

The union began their operation in 2017 after an increase in concerns around unaffordable housing and evictions.

Moss Side residents are facing problems with relations and trust between them and their housing providers.

Thirza Asanga-Rae is an organiser for the union and spoke to The NQ about their plans to tackle this issue.

She said that “absolutely nothing” is being done to enable affordable housing in Moss Side.

In her view, the council is “setting families up to potentially fail”.

Greater Manchester Tenants Union

The council provide residents with funding on the basis that their household income will increase.

Thirza believes this “is not a sure way to house or rehousing families as a solution”.

Because of this, GMTU are campaigning around no-fault evictions and rent increases.

They plan to do this by holding landlords accountable and educating tenants around their housing rights.

GMTU hold ‘know your rights’ sessions at the Millenium Powerhouse every second Sunday of the month in hopes to push residents to stand up for themselves.

The NQ asked Thirza how they plan to stop no fault evictions and she said “in a nutshell change the law to not allow such practice to be abused”.

Thirza also said “This will be achieved through lobbying and campaigns that hight light the impact of no-fault evictions and how this impacts the wider housing crisis”.

Ongoing concerns

GMTU are looking for solutions to solve the issue of Airbns’s replacing family homes and disabling permanent housing for the community.

In February of this year, A new UK law stated that owners of Airbnb have to gain planning permission to rent a property for more than 90 days.

During a press release, Micheal Gove, who is the Secretary of State for Levelling Up Housing and Communities said:

“This will allow local communities to take back control and strike the right balance between protecting the visitor economy and ensuring local people get the homes they need”.

Airbnb’s are also causing noise pollution and burdens on public services as tourism in Manchester faces an increase.

This is why GMTU are taking action and more information can be found here.