Home Owners Rights Network

What do you want to achieve in 2026? There’s a lot on our to do list for 2026 Build, baby, build Speed up building Work to end homelessness A fairer deal for leaseholders Restore pride in local communities Deliver the Renters’ Rights Act Make more homes safe and secure

Dan spent his life savings to buy a flat in Keir Starmer's London constituency for a cool £850,000. Just 7 years later, his home is collapsing around him – and is worth absolutely nothing.

He adds: 'What we all want to achieve is the same thing; and that's to make things better for everyone in the borough and we only achieve this by working together. I'm so grateful for all the support I've had over the years.'

This Labour Government is committed to supporting small businesses and investing in our young people's future.

Sometimes I wonder what a large housing association would be like if it were a person. The personality you see in the marketing is very clear. Smiling families. Big ceremonial keys handed over in photographs. Language about communities, opportunity and helping people onto the housing ladder. But the personality you encounter when serious financial issues arise feels very different. There isn’t much warmth or understanding in those moments. The tone is much closer to: this is the amount, this is the deadline, deal with it. Housing associations present themselves as organisations rooted in social purpose. Yet when leaseholders face major works bills or service charge pressures, the conversation rarely centres on affordability or the real financial position of the people involved. Instead everything is framed through process, liability and what the legal framework allows, and that gives them the necessary distance and disconnect they put between themselves and the leaseholders. It creates a strange dissonance. Go to court and notice that they won't even look you in the eye. The public image is one of support and opportunity, complete with photo opportunities and ceremonial keys. The lived experience, when things become difficult, can feel much more like dealing with a distant property manager whose main concern is protecting the balance sheet. Perhaps the most unsettling part is how normal this has become. An organisation can speak constantly about community and affordability, while the people actually living in those homes are left to navigate financial demands that bear little relation to what ordinary residents can realistically sustain. The photographs show people smiling with the keys to their new homes. What they rarely show is what happens years later when the bills arrive with an infeasibly crushing timeline for repayment. Threats of debt collection and lease forfeiture. Leasehold is a disproportionate liability passed onto the narrowest shoulders to maintain someone else’s asset - often used to excuse pre-existing problems, historic neglect, and avoidable structural failure.

The motion is asking for the council's O&S committee to set up a task and finish group, which would report back to the council in 12 months with recommendations to support the expansion of cooperative housing in Rochdale.

Coun Carol Wardle has introduced her report on finance and growth. It notes that more than £190m will be invested into capital schemes across the borough over this next financial year.

Coun Danny Meredith, our cabinet member for housing and regeneration, is speaking in support of the motion. He said: "It's affordable and sustainable and it's important that people are listened to."

This next motion, is to be moved without debate, as is allowed in the rules. Moved by Coun Andy Kelly, it notes the importance of the ‘Ask for Angela’ scheme, where people who feel uneasy while out in licensed premises, can ‘Ask for Angela’ to get support from staff.

The councillors note that the cooperative housing model is underdeveloped in the UK as compared to other countries, even though it creates cohesive, community led housing schemes which tend to be more affordable than other housing options.