CAMPAIGNERS slammed Andy Burnham today for betraying his own promises in “a major capitulation to the housing market and the landlord class.”

The Social Housing Action Campaign (SHAC) hit back at the Prime Minister’s decision to break a prior commitment to allocate 100 per cent of the Affordable Homes Programme to social rents.

The government’s newly unveiled plan to “boost genuinely affordable homes,” worth nearly £10 billion, will result in more money going into “failed forms of housing,” SHAC warned.

Activists pointed out that it would only see 60 per cent of the Affordable Homes Programme go to social rents, rather than its totality as Mr Burnham had pledged.

During his campaign to become Makerfield MP, Mr Burnham called for the entire £39bn social and affordable homes programme to be spent on council housing.

“There’s £39bn allocated over a 10-year period … I’m saying that should be dedicated to council homes. Let’s not be coy any more,” he said.

SHAC secretary and co-founder Suzanne Muna told the Morning Star: “Burnham’s backtrack proves that government is still too heavily influenced by those whose financial interests lie in maintaining things as they are despite the harm this does to people and communities.”

Ms Muna called the move a “major capitulation to the housing market and the landlord class,” adding: “Burnham has betrayed his own promises by so quickly stepping back from the commitment to funding 100 per cent social rent.”

SHAC, which organises tenants and residents alongside the trade union movement “to challenge the power of landlords,” takes the view that these new government plans will actually fuel a boost in “failed forms of housing” such as shared ownership.

“We don’t need complex financial products like shared ownership,” Ms Muna said. “We need secure council homes that people on average wages can actually afford.”

Ms Muna also called on ministers to consider “those in insecure, overcrowded and unsuitable housing” and not just people facing homelessness and rough sleeping.

She added: “The housing emergency is also putting stress on the benefits system, council services and the NHS. Landlords amass surpluses and profits, and the public sector picks up the pieces.

“Burnham should be thinking of a fundamental shift to breaking this model, not just more of the same.”

Yesterday, Housing Minister Matthew Pennycook rejected claims that Mr Burnham had gone back on his promises, saying the government was doing “exactly” what the former Greater Manchester mayor set out during his leadership campaign.

Initial funding allocations will see more than £2bn spent in mayoral areas outside of London as part of the government’s broader devolution goals.

The allocations are the first part of a 10-year plan, which includes more than £16bn remaining for authorities outside of the capital.

Government officials said the Greater London Authority intends to make at least £6bn available through this scheme, with local authorities in London to deliver more than half of the homes announced.

Housing Secretary Angela Rayner said: “The Prime Minister and I are doing everything we can to get councils building once again – it’s fundamental to turning the housing crisis around, helping families out of temporary accommodation and into a secure home.”

Tenants with the Renters’ Reform Coalition (RRC) voiced their concerns over timelines set out by the government, which expects to build 70,000 social homes over the next decade.

But renters “can’t afford to wait decades for the chance of securing a social home,” they warned, demanding Ms Rayner bring in rent controls.

RRC director Clara Collingwood welcomed the government setting out “concrete plans to build more social homes” but said proposed numbers are “less than a tenth of what housing groups have calculated is needed to address the housing crisis.”

“We need to see a bigger commitment from the government on social and council housing.

“Private renters can’t afford to wait decades for the chance of securing a social home, and an unregulated market makes all housing, including social housing, more expensive to live in.

“The most powerful thing the government could do right now to tackle this crisis is to bring in an immediate cap on rent increases.”