PM says public money alone won’t solve problem but ‘we did it in the pandemic, we can do it again’
‘Burnham’s writing cheques, this one might bounce’: homeless people doubt PM’s plan
Andy Burnham has said government money alone may not be enough to get rough sleepers off the streets by Christmas, as experts called for more of a plan to deal with the problems that cause homelessness.
Speaking on a visit to the north-east of England, the prime minister said he felt “very passionately” about tackling rough sleeping and wanted the wider society to play a part in wiping it out.
He acknowledged that not every rough sleeper may take the offer “for their own reasons”. But he said a nationwide effort to stop as much rough sleeping as possible by Christmas was the aim – replicating what happened in the Covid pandemic.
Burnham told reporters: “The government money may not fully get us there, and I’m saying to wider society, faith organisations, let’s see if we can do this together. Let’s see if Britain can do this. Give everybody an offer to come inside before Christmas. You know, that is just something we can do.
“We did it in the pandemic. We can do it again, and it’s a rallying call, really, that I’m putting out there today, with a lot of government money behind it.”
Burnham wrote in the Guardian on Tuesday that rough sleeping has become so common it now “feels like part of the scenery”, as he pledged another £100m to tackle the problem this winter.
The announcement puts tackling homelessness as a central policy for Burnham’s government, and gives voters a measure by which to judge his success.
As mayor of Greater Manchester, Burnham introduced schemes such as A Bed Every Night to offer emergency accommodation, but while the number of rough sleepers fell, it then began to increase again.
The prime minister said this was because “we were the only place providing that level of support, and understandably, people then travelled to Greater Manchester to access that support”.
He added: “So my point is, we can do this, but only if all areas are pulling in the same direction, and that’s what this funding is designed to achieve – to make this a nationwide initiative as we go into the Christmas period, getting everybody behind it.”
He said people being left to sleep on the streets “can often cost more to the state because people can be in and out of A&E, and in and out of hospital beds, and sometimes in contact with the police”.
As part of the national effort, Burnham said he would host a summit this autumn to “bring together leaders from across society – from business, finance, charities, health, faith communities and more – to ask what role each of them can play in ending rough sleeping”.
Council leaders and experts have applauded Burnham’s aims but also called for more work on how to deal with issues underlying rough sleeping, from mental health problems to addiction.
