This week on Working for Students Liv catches up with Penny Hampden-Turner and Joel Dowson from the Greater Manchester Students Partnership to discuss their vision for happier renting conditions across Greater Manchester. They talk through the partnership’s housing work, the case for more ambitious regional collaboration, and how students’ unions can push policymakers to imagine genuinely affordable, safe, and decent student housing.

There’s also a conversation with Alan from Salford SU on the development of the union’s commercial strategy, exploring how venues, activations, coffee carts, and student-led spaces can help build community, tackle loneliness, and connect more students with the wider work of the SU.