Manchester City Council has partnered with the Greater Manchester Pension Fund to finance a pipeline of around 1,600 affordable homes through its housing company, This City, across multiple sites in Manchester. 

The partnership between Manchester City Council and the Greater Manchester Pension Fund aims to deliver around 1,600 homes across the city. The collaboration will support This City, the council’s housing company, focused on developing low-carbon homes on brownfield land. The company completed its first scheme of 129 homes at No.1 Ancoats Green last year, and seven additional sites—mainly in North and East Manchester—have been identified as potential locations for future development. Under the collaboration agreement, each development will be delivered through a separate site-specific partnership and leasing arrangement responsible for overseeing construction as well as the long-term management and operation of the scheme. As equal partners, the city council and GMPF must jointly approve the final development proposals, funding structure, business terms, and planning agreements for every project.

The next planned development is a site on Postal Street in the Northern Quarter, where a commercial building has already been demolished to make way for a proposed 126 homes. The scheme has progressed to RIBA Stage 2, with a planning application expected to be submitted later in 2026. This City aims to begin construction by Q3 of 2027. Funding for the Postal Street project will be provided through equity and debt from Manchester City Council and the Greater Manchester Pension Fund, along with grant support from the Greater Manchester Combined Authority. In November 2025, the GMCA also allocated £16.3 million from its Good Growth Fund to support the scheme.

The first phase of a four-stage development at Monsall in Harpurhey is expected to follow, with plans to deliver 175 homes beginning in Q1 of 2028. Once all four phases are completed, This City aims to provide a total of 651 homes on the site. Around the same period as the initial Monsall phase, the company is also expected to oversee the construction of 88 homes at Kirkmanshulme Lane in Longsight. In the following quarter, work could begin on another scheme involving 84 homes at Hyde Road in Longsight.