Can Andy Burnham solve the UK's housing crisis?

We need to rewrite the article as original SinCity Press journalism, preserving all facts, names, dates, numbers, quotes exactly. Use professional journalism tone. Vary sentence structure. Output only rewritten article, no preface/commentary. We must keep all facts exactly: numbers, dates, names, quotes. Need to rewrite sentences but preserve content. Ensure we don't lose any data. Let's extract key facts: - Title: "Can Andy Burnham solve the UK's housing crisis?" - Author: Ben Chu, Policy and Analysis correspondent, BBC Verify. Content: - Millions of people facing unaffordable rents, long waits for social housing, priced out of market when ready to buy. - Average house price in England was £300,000 last year — about 8 times average earnings. - Labour government pledged to build 1.5 million new homes in England over the life of this Parliament, but already falling short. - Andy Burnham credited by some with overseeing a building boom in Manchester as mayor of Greater Manchester Combined Authority, though critics say serious housing problems remain in the city region. - BBC Verify examined housing situation facing Burnham if he becomes PM, and whether lessons from his record as mayor could inform approach. - What has Burnham said about housing? - Burnham said UK is in grip of a "housing crisis" and wants to deliver "the biggest council house building programme since the post-war period" – but no details. - Keir Starmer's government already pledged £39bn to fund 300,000 new "social and affordable homes" over 10 years during 2025 Spending Review, said would reinvigorate council housebuilding. - That equates to about 30,000 new homes a year, but most expected to be social housing built by not-for-profit housing associations using government grants. - Council house building collapsed across England since 1980s; much of local authority housing stock sold off under right-to-buy policy introduced by Thatcher government. - VisualJournalism: interactive (no text needed) - In 1950s, councils built about 200,000 council homes a year. In 2025 that figure was just 1,970 – and only about half of councils either own or build homes directly. - If Burnham intends for councils themselves to directly build all the new homes he promised, they would need to construct tens of thousands a year, while many have not built any for decades. - Would also likely require a sizeable increase in council budgets to rebuild internal teams needed to plan, procure and manage large-scale housebuilding. - If Burnham's definition of "council housing" includes new social housing delivered by housing associations at social rents, might be more achievable. - Social rents typically about half of equivalent local market rents. - How many houses currently being built in England? - Labour pledged a major increase in overall housebuilding – covering private as well as social housing – when it took power in 2024, pledging to deliver a total of 1.5 million new homes in England over the life of a five-year parliament. - That implied an average of 300,000 new dwellings each year, a rate of building not seen in decades. - BBC Verify tracking using EPC data: latest EPC data suggests only 204,000 new homes delivered in the 12 months to March this year, far short of required yearly building rate to hit Labour's target – and with only about 3 years remaining until next general election to meet what was already a stretching goal. - BBC Verify tool enables people to see housing delivery in their local authority area by entering postcode. - What did Burnham achieve on housing in Manchester? - Burnham's record on delivering new housing in Greater Manchester city region – which encompasses boroughs from Wigan to Stockport – during his time as mayor was not stellar compared with other city regions in England. - There were 3.8 new homes built per 1,000 people between 2018 and 2025 – a lower rate than Cambridgeshire and Peterborough (5.6), the East Midlands (4.3), Greater London (4.2), and the West of England (4.2). - But the housing delivery rate in the city of Manchester itself during that period was more impressive. The city added 5.3 homes per 1,000 people, more than any other highly populated local authority area in England. - Burnham inherited a housing policy in Manchester city centre stemming from a 1990s regeneration scheme encouraging private sector developers to invest in the area. - Property developers in London have long been required to provide a sizeable proportion of social rent housing on new projects. But in Manchester there was relatively little emphasis on developers being required to do this. - In his 2024 mayoral manifesto, Burnham promised to deliver 10,000 new council homes across Greater Manchester by 2028. - But the number of council homes across the 10 boroughs of the city region fell slightly, from about 61,000 in 2016 to 59,000 in 2025, though the GMCA said national policy has been partly responsible for this decline, especially right-to-buy. - The delivery of new social rent housing rose in Greater Manchester during his tenure, rising from 76 in 2017-18 to 633 in 2024-25, and rose faster than in other similar English city regions. - What problems could he face as PM? - Analysts say the Starmer government's planned reforms for England – including changing rules on green belt development to increase land homes can be built on – should help increase supply in the long term. - But some argue that, in the short term, housing delivery by private sector developers is being held back by high house prices relative to median household incomes and elevated mortgage interest rates, which make housing unaffordable for many prospective buyers. - The average house price in England was estimated at £300,000 in 2025, about 8 times the median annual income of a full-time employee. - Private housing developers have also cited factors such as a shortage of skilled labourers from Europe since Brexit and a rise in construction material costs in the aftermath of the pandemic and the Russian invasion of Ukraine, as barriers to delivery. - Some argue government environmental and planning regulation is also holding back construction. - One option for Burnham to increase the supply of new social housing would be to prioritise building homes for rent by councils and housing associations and direct the full £39bn, 10-year investment package towards that goal, rather than using part of it to subsidise the building of affordable homes for purchase. - But it's estimated that to deliver a major uplift in these forms of housing would require an additional £13bn per year of government subsidy on top of existing commitments. - Burnham also said in a speech on 29 June that "we will use public land, vacant public land, to cut costs." - Housing analysts judge there is potential to use publicly owned land to increase the supply of housing, but some note that when governments have also attempted this without significant success and that there are inherent constraints which are challenging to overcome, such as the fact that the land might be part of a school's grounds or be too small and costly to develop. - Analysts argue that, although there is simply a case for higher government investment in council and social housing on a national scale, the UK still also needs a massive step-up in the delivery of private housing – and that if Burnham is to have a chance of dealing with the housing crisis as prime minister he will need to deliver on this front too. - Additional reporting by Daniel Wainwright. We need to preserve all numbers, quotes exactly. Quotes: - "housing crisis" - "the biggest council house building programme since the post-war period" - "we will use public land, vacant public land, to cut costs." - Also maybe quotes like "the biggest assembly location gathering programme since the post-war period"? Actually original text had weird phrasing: "the biggest assembly location gathering programme since the post-war period". Need to preserve exactly as in source: "the biggest assembly location gathering programme since the post-war period". Wait the source: "the biggest assembly location gathering programme since the post-war period". Let's locate: In the text: Burnham has said ... "the biggest assembly location gathering programme since the post-war period". Actually original: "the biggest assembly location gathering programme since the post-war period". Let's verify: In the snippet: Burnham has said , externalthe UK is successful the grip of a "housing crisis" and he wants to present "the biggest assembly location gathering programme since the post-war period". Yes that is the phrase. So we must keep that exact phrase. Also quote: "we will use public land, vacant public land, to cut costs." Must keep exactly. Also maybe other quotes: "the grip of a "housing crisis"" etc. We need to preserve all facts, names, dates, numbers, quotes exactly. We must rewrite but keep numbers unchanged. Must not add or omit any facts. We need to produce a SinCity Press style article (presumably similar to BBC but with SinCity Press branding). No reporter contact etc. We need to vary sentence structure. Let's rewrite paragraph by paragraph, ensuring all facts retained. We'll start with headline. We'll keep author line? The original had byline. We should keep author name and title? The instruction: preserve all facts, names, dates, numbers, and quotes exactly. So we must keep the byline: "By Ben Chu" and "Policy and Analysis correspondent, BBC Verify". That's factual. So include. We must not add any extra info like contact. Let's craft. We'll need to be careful to not lose any numbers: e.g., £300,000, 8 times average earnings, 1.5 million, 300,000 per year, £39bn, 300,000 new "social and affordable homes", 10 years, 30,000 per year, 200,000 council homes per year in 1950s, 1,970 in 2025, half of councils, tens of thousands, sizeable increase, social rents about half of local market rents, 204,000 new homes delivered 12 months to March, about 3 years remaining, 3.8 per 1,000 people between 2018-2025, Cambridgeshire and Peterborough 5.6, East Midlands 4.3, Greater London 4.2, West of England 4.2, Manchester city 5.3 per 1,000, 1990s regeneration scheme, property developers in London required proportion, Manchester little emphasis, 2024 mayoral manifesto promised 10,000 new council homes by 2028, council homes fell from about 61,000 in 2016 to 59,000 in 2025, GMCA said national policy partly responsible especially right-to-buy, new social rent housing rose from 76 in 2017-18 to 633 in 2024-25, rose faster than other similar English city regions, average house price £300,000 in 2025, about 8 times median annual income of full-time employee, shortage of skilled labourers from Europe since Brexit, rise in construction material costs after pandemic and Russian invasion of Ukraine, government environmental and planning regulation holding back construction, additional £13bn per year needed, speech on 29 June, etc. Also quotes: "housing crisis", "the biggest assembly location gathering programme since the post-war period", "we will use public land, vacant public land, to cut costs." Also maybe quote: "the grip of a "housing crisis""? Actually that includes quote inside quote. We need to preserve exactly: "the grip of a "housing crisis""? The original: "the UK is successful the grip of a "housing crisis""? Let's see: "the UK is successful the grip of a "housing crisis""? The snippet: "Burnham has said , externalthe UK is successful the grip of a "housing crisis" and he wants to present "the biggest assembly location gathering programme since the post-war period". There's a typo "successful". We must preserve exactly as in source, including any typos? The instruction: preserve all facts, names, dates, numbers, and quotes exactly. So we must keep the exact wording, even if it contains errors. So we must keep "the UK is successful the grip of a "housing crisis""? Actually the text: "Burnham has said , externalthe UK is successful the grip of a "housing crisis" and he wants to present "the biggest assembly location gathering programme since the post-war period". So we need to keep that exact phrase: "the UK is successful the grip of a "housing crisis""? Let's capture: "the UK is successful the grip of a "housing crisis""? Actually there is a missing word: "the UK is in the grip of a "housing crisis""? But source says "the UK is successful the grip of a "housing crisis"". We must preserve that exactly, including the typo "successful". So we need to output that exact phrase. Similarly "the biggest assembly location gathering programme since the post-war period" must be kept exactly. Also "we will use public land, vacant public land, to cut costs." must be kept exactly. Also there may be other quotes: maybe "the grip of a "housing crisis"" includes internal quotes. We'll keep as is. Now rewrite. We'll produce a single article with paragraphs. Let's craft. We'll start: "Can Andy Burnham solve the UK's housing crisis?" as headline.