Andy Burnham has made ending rough sleeping a cornerstone of his first speech as Prime Minister, promising to issue an immediate instruction to address homelessness across the country. Speaking outside 10 Downing Street, he outlined a 10-year plan for Britain and a new political and economic model, with care for people at its core.
“I will soon go through that door behind me and issue my first instruction - to end rough sleeping in our country,” Burnham said. “It’s about putting the right values and the right standards at the heart of government. I will put the care of people at the heart of everything I do. I will give this my all and I ask you all to pull with me.”
Pre-Premiership Visit to Homelessness Charity
Hours before formally becoming the UK’s new leader, Burnham visited The Passage, a homelessness charity in Victoria, London, which has the Prince of Wales as its royal patron. He accompanied charity workers on their daily check-in with rough sleepers in the Victoria area and later helped prepare food by chopping mushrooms for breakfast and lunch.
Burnham told the charity’s chief executive, Mick Clarke, that his experience as Greater Manchester mayor had shown him “your world from the ground.” He added: “When you have that experience, you can do something with it when you are back at the national level. You change lives every day (here).”
Greater Manchester Record on Rough Sleeping
As Greater Manchester mayor, Burnham vowed to end rough sleeping in the region by 2020. He launched the ‘A Bed Every Night’ scheme in 2018, creating emergency accommodation and support, and donated 15 per cent of his mayoral salary to the effort. The initiative led to a significant drop in rough sleeping numbers, from 268 people in 2017 to 90 in 2021.
However, rough sleeping did not end in Greater Manchester. By 2025, the figure had risen to 197, though this remains below the 2017 peak. In comparison, rough sleeping across England fell from 4,751 in 2017 to a low of 2,443 in 2021, then rose to 4,793 in 2025—higher than the 2017 level.
Continued Efforts and Challenges
In April 2025, the Greater Manchester Combined Authority increased bed spaces under A Bed Every Night from 550 to more than 600. Burnham acknowledged the ongoing housing crisis, stating: “The truth of the matter is that the grip of the housing crisis is still tightening every year across our city-region.” He noted that Greater Manchester spends at least £75 million annually on temporary accommodation, recouping only 42 per cent via housing benefit.
“The only solution we have to fix this shortfall is by building a supply of truly affordable, social and council housing,” Burnham said. “Our Housing First approach provides a good, safe home for those who need it. Paired with wraparound support services and the funding we’ve received from this government into social housing, Greater Manchester’s shown that a preventative approach works.”
National Vision: Learning from the Pandemic
Pressed on the 2025 rise in Greater Manchester, Burnham pointed to the “Everyone In” scheme during the Covid-19 pandemic, which brought thousands of rough sleepers indoors across England. He argued that a coordinated national effort is essential: “What I learned was, we ran a scheme every night, 600 beds, called A Bed Every Night and we funded it through various different ways. But we were the only place that was doing it and you won’t be able to get the numbers down if you’re the only place, and other cities, people are coming to Manchester.”
“So it taught me that the only way is to do this together. Everybody pulling in the same direction, Everyone In, as we did in the pandemic – because we did bring people inside in the pandemic and that’s what I’m saying as I go into Government today. We did it then. We can do it now. Get the basics right. Put a care for people at the heart of everything that we do and just get this country working as it should again.”
