Oldham has seen its commitment to build 13,700 homes in the 2016 draft of the GMSF (p. 207) rise to 14,290 in the 2019 draft (Housing topic paper, pp.17–18). The latest GMSF draft has increased Oldham’s target while lowering the target in every other district of Greater Manchester, despite the fact it predicts that fewer homes will be required in total than the 2016 draft.

The number of households in Oldham is expected to increase by 12,407 over the 2018–2037 period. The Government methodology for establishing housing need upscales this figure by 10 percent to set Oldham’s Local Housing Need at 13,604. Despite this figure being lower than the previous target, Oldham's new housing target has been increased by 590 homes to 14,290, which is 15 percent higher than the projected increase in the number of households!