A new emergency has been declared in Greater Manchester

Soaring rents, dangerous conditions and a worrying lack of security leaving families facing the prospect of homelessness.

These are the problems which far too many tenants in Greater Manchester are battling every day in 2023. It's a situation which has led to a new 'emergency' being declared.

Four leading charities have declared a 'private rent emergency' in Greater Manchester. The announcement comes today (October 10), which coincides with World Homeless Day.

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Stepping Stone Projects, Mustard Tree, The Booth Centre, and Shelter Greater Manchester have joined forces to launch the Greater Manchester Private Rent Emergency campaign. Together, they are calling on councils, politicians and other stakeholders to publicly recognise the 'crisis in the private rental sector' and back their plans for reform.

John Ryan, Greater Manchester strategic lead for Shelter, said: “We’ve seen positive steps to address rough sleeping and homelessness in Greater Manchester, but the problems that we see will continue to grow without reform of the private rented sector.

"Thousands of people are effectively locked out of the private rented sector by soaring rents and the social rented sector by lack of availability due to decades of under investment in building truly affordable homes.”

The declaration of a 'private rent emergency' comes amid surging rents in recent years across the region. While rent increases reached a record high in the North West in October 2022 at 4.7 per cent, research