Andy Burnham vowed in his first speech as prime minister that his government would “end rough sleeping” across the country, saying it would be his “first instruction”.
In further details set out by No 10, £340m funding was announced to go towards acquiring suitable homes, identifying those most in need and starting to provide housing and support “without delay”.
The funding will provide 1,200 homes and intensive support for at least 3,000 long-term rough sleepers over five years, the government said.
The money, said to be from within uncommitted Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) budgets, will be on top of the previously announced £3.6bn funding under the National Plan to End Homelessness – which came under Sir Keir Starmer’s premiership – bringing the total to more than £3.9bn.
However, the Conservatives said Mr Burnham was making “pledges without any plan for delivery”.
Shadow housing secretary Sir James Cleverly said: “There is precious little detail on how this will be paid for. Burnham must come clean on what other MHCLG programmes have been salami-sliced to fill the gap.
“In Manchester, Burnham promised to end rough sleeping, but failed because he didn’t do the hard work necessary. Now, again, he is making pledges without any plan for delivery.”
What did Burnham set out to do in Greater Manchester?
Tackling rough sleeping has long been a political priority of Mr Burnham’s – he made the same vow in 2017 when he became Greater Manchester mayor and donated 15 per cent of his mayoral salary to the mayor’s charity to tackle homelessness in the region.
That charity set up the Bed Every Night scheme, which aims to provide a place to sleep and personal support for anyone who is sleeping rough, or at imminent risk of it, in Greater Manchester.
Data shows the number of people sleeping rough in the region is lower than when he became mayor in 2017, but has risen sharply in more recent years.
The most recent government data shows there were 197 people sleeping rough across Greater Manchester on an October or November night in 2025.
It is down 26 per cent from 268 people in the autumn of 2017, the year Mr Burnham was elected in Greater Manchester.
Across the same period, the total number of people rough sleeping in England increased by 1 per cent – from 4,751 in 2017 to 4,793 last year.
In Greater Manchester, the rough sleeping figure fell to its lowest during Burnham’s leadership in 2021, with 90 people counted. But since then the figure has more than doubled.
England’s total number for rough sleeping has risen by 96 per cent since 2021, a slower rate than in Greater Manchester.
Greater Manchester homelessness charity Mustard Tree worked with Mr Burnham throughout his time as mayor. The charity’s chief executive Jo Walby praised his record in the region, but said his ability to tackle the problem of homelessness was limited by the powers of his role.
“We were seeing a positive change and reduction in people sleeping rough across Greater Manchester since Andy Burnham became mayor in 2017, until Covid and the resulting cost of living crisis – when the numbers started to rise again in 2022,” she told The Independent.
“There are still fewer people on the streets now than when Andy Burnham first became mayor.”
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Ms Walby added: “We don’t know how bad it would have been without Andy Burnham as mayor. Homelessness is complex and links to a failing state – issues with access to mental health services, social services and lack of financial opportunities.”
She said Mr Burnham “realised he could only go so far without changing national policy” while he was mayor, adding government responsibilities like house building, local housing allowance rates, benefits and immigration, national skills and education can all affect levels of homelessness.
What challenges does Burnham face now?
In autumn 2025, the estimated number of people sleeping rough on a single night was 4,793, the highest number ever recorded.
But Shelter’s head of policy Charlie Trew welcomed Mr Burnham’s announcement, describing it as “something we haven't had from a prime minister for a very long time”.
However, Mr Trew believes the approach to solve the issue nationally must prioritise preventative measures, such as building social homes. “An affordable, decent home is the foundation of everything,” he told The Independent.
He approves of Mr Burnham’s indication that he will work to ensure local councils have the financial ability to support those at risk of homelessness, as well as promising the biggest wave of council house construction since the Second World War.
He said: “What he needs to do – and indicates he wants to do – is return to funding and supporting councils and regional authorities so they can make ‘invest-to-save’ decisions.
“That approach delivers social benefits by keeping people in settled, affordable homes while generating long-term savings for the state across housing benefit, temporary accommodation, and rough sleeping services.
“During the pandemic, we saw people brought indoors, but new cohorts of people continued finding themselves homeless without support. You need to build genuinely affordable social homes to prevent people from reaching that position.”
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