EMPLOYEES at Bolton at Home will march shoulder-to-shoulder with tenants on a protest walk from Farnworth to Manchester demanding the government take action on a "chronic housing crisis".

About 40 residents and staff from the social housing provider will walk nine miles as they take part in the National Housing Federation’s Homes for Britain campaign.

The protestors will carry a baton — a large symbolic key — which will have been passed to them from other housing associations who will have completed walks through Lancashire and Cheshire.

When the demonstrators reach Manchester city centre, the group will join a rally in Piccadilly Gardens in a national day of action.

Bolton at Home’s chief executive Jon Lord is also taking part, walking from Burnley to Congleton over three days, one section of the Homes for Britain national campaign route.

Mr Lord, who will complete the march during personal leave, said: “Bolton has around 33,000 private Victorian terraced houses, many of which are owned by landlords who are not investing in them, so the lifespan of these houses is shortening fast.

“Meanwhile, Bolton’s renewal programme, which was previously worth £10 million a year, is now £1 million a year.

“In fact, it is thanks only to Bolton Council that there is still a private sector renewal fund left as they are one of only a handful of authorities in the country still supporting it.

“However, if thousands of homes were to disappear, we’d have a housing crisis the like of which we’ve never seen before.”

The north west has about 130,000 empty private sector homes — 30,000 more than any region and the highest proportion of vacant stock in the country.

While private sector rents are expected to rise over the next 10 years, social housing lists have grown exponentially, with nearly 20,000 people on the housing register in Bolton.

Mr Lord said desperate action needs to be taken by politicians in Whitehall to stop the problem getting worse.

He added: “We need more of all types of housing, new-build private housing, new-build affordable housing, more private rented sector homes, and more homes for shared ownership and so on.

“The government is not doing enough to address this situation, here and across the country.

“This march is all about showing our support to end the housing crisis within a generation.”

The march will start at 8.30am on Wednesday at Darley Street in Farnworth before going to Piccadilly Gardens in Manchester.