Andy Burnham has outlined his views on Labour’s housing policy as he makes his bid to become the country’s new Prime Minister.

He set out his views on everything from rogue landlords to Right to Buy, and the future direction of the party’s housing policy in an in-depth interview on the Social Housing Podcast with Gary Haynes of Voicescape.

He told Haynes (pictured left) Britain’s housing crisis will continue unless Governments stop treating homes primarily as commodities and instead return to a “Housing First” philosophy centred on social housing, local delivery and stronger tenant protections.

We really haven’t had that approach in this country since the post-war years.”

“We really haven’t had that approach in this country since the post-war years.”

Burnham (pictured right) claimed more progress had been made on housing policy in the past five years than in the previous “20 or 30 years”, pointing to the Renters’ Rights Act and the Government’s £39billion affordable housing settlement.

He believes, however, that ministers should go further and prioritise social housing above all other forms of housing investment.

“We continue to argue for the maximum to be devoted to social housing,” he said. “I would actually devote all of it to social housing.”

The Mayor also attacked what he sees as decades of policy failure since the 1980s.

Houses not commodities

“Since the 1980s, housing has increasingly been treated as a commodity to be bought and sold,” he said. “If you see housing purely like that, you end up with a housing crisis – and that’s exactly where we are.”

Burnham then outlined how he believes Homes England should operate differently, calling for less “scheme-by-scheme micromanagement” and more freedom for regional authorities to deliver housing locally.

He argued that city regions should receive broader investment backing while being judged on overall delivery across areas such as Greater Manchester rather than on individual schemes.

Another of Burnham’s ambitions is to build more social homes than are lost through Right to Buy, which he believes could play a much bigger role in tackling Britain’s housing crisis.

You can see the full interview here.