Manchester Housing Crisis - for people leaving prison!

Have you wondered why there are so many people begging in Manchester's City Centre?

Well one of the answers is the total lack of support given to people leaving the City's prisons to return to society.

One third of people released from Manchester's prisons between 2015 and 2017 left for "unsettled" or "unknown" accommodation because of a lack of social and affordable homes in the city.

Nearly 400 people released from Manchester's prisons were completely abandoned last year alone, with many going on to sleeping rough. Manchester's homeless crisis is being perpetuated by a lack of support for people released from the city's prisons.

Nearly 400 people released from Manchester's prisons were completely abandoned last year alone.

People who leave prison released to "unsettled accommodation" (mostly rough sleeping and other forms of homelessness) are unsurprisingly more likely to reoffend than host who have stable housing on release. Figures show that in Manchester 212 people (10%) were released to "unsettled accommodation" between April 2015 and March 2017.

Hundreds of prisoners released each year are at serious risk of ending up on the streets.

A further 550 (26%) were released to unknown accommodation, making it much harder for them to receive services to support rehabilitation.

Liberal Democrat Lead Campaigner for Deansgate, John Bridges, stated that "Prison is supposed to be a place of rehabilitation, but what point is there in rehabilitating someone to then abandon them to the streets the moment they leave the prison gates?"

"It is hard enough for former prisoners to get a job or access to education and healthcare, but that becomes near impossible if they are homeless and living on the streets."

Manchester's Labour bosses are providing development opportunities to overseas millionaires, approving luxury developments that are unaffordable to most people in our city, and at the same time they are failing to provide basic accommodation and affordable homes for some of the most vulnerable people in our society.

Liberal Democrats are calling for Manchester's planning and housing policies to be re-focussed away from benefitting rich developers and towards tackling the City's ever-growing housing crisis.