Who we are

The Moss Side branch was set up in 2017 with only a handful of neighbours in response to common concerns about poor housing conditions and the lack of affordable family homes. It has since grown to be the largest local branch of GMTU.

Membership is open to renters and any other residents of Moss Side concerned about housing injustice and a belief in the collective power of achieving change.

We have supported national campaigns to end DSS discrimination by landlords and estate agents and to end no-fault evictions. We exposed the scandal of the social housing sell-off into the private rented sector in Moss Side; this prevented more sell-offs with the result that more social housing was retained in the pool for potential future tenants.

Ongoing concerns

We are concerned about the rise of short-term lets (such as airbnbs) with their negative effects on neighbours and the loss of family homes, as well as the impact of buy-to-let landlords making it harder for local residents to find affordable, permanent homes. We frequently liaise with other community groups who share these concerns; an example of this was a joint meeting with eight of these groups and council leaders to discuss these issues and to look for solutions.

Current focus

We have constructed a questionnaire for Moss Side social housing tenants to identify any ongoing tenant/provider relationship problems and hope to work with the social landlords towards solutions. This will be adjusted to include private sector renters in the future.