ONS stats show that private rental costs have increased by the highest amount in the North West by an average 12.3%. Labour Oldham’s policy of kicking 20,000 people off the social housing register, record immigration rates and to many unscrupulous landlords charging extortionate rents is wholly responsible for the huge increase in unwanted HMO’s in Oldham. Oldham’s social housing policy of knocking down hundreds of high rise homes and replacing them with six times fewer larger homes has also contributed to the landlord free for all blighting the town.