Within days of being chosen as the Labour party's candidate for Manchester mayor, current Leigh MP and shadow home secretary Andy Burnham had already decided his focus would be on housing. The mayoral candidate pledged to use Manchester's £300m housing fund, which under current rules has been earmarked for new housing developments by private firms, to improve the public housing stock by buying out "absent landlords". Among his proposals are plans to build more affordable homes at sub-market rent and introduce Manchester's own 'rent-to-own' system to get more people on the housing ladder. Mr Burnham believes the housing market in Greater Manchester is too geared towards higher-end developments in the city centre, calling for more affordable homes in areas such as Bury, Salford and Tameside.
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