Andy Burnham has announced that his first directive as Prime Minister will be to end rough sleeping across the United Kingdom. Just hours before officially assuming office on Monday, July 20, the former Greater Manchester Mayor visited The Passage, a homelessness charity in Victoria, central London. He described the visit as the "best place to start" his premiership, witnessing "the lives that are being turned around."
First Speech as Prime Minister
In his inaugural address from Downing Street, Burnham stated: "We will help people to live well, building a more preventative state, investing in people's success rather than paying for failure. And that work starts now. I will soon go through that door behind me and issue my first instruction: to end rough sleeping in our country."
Previous Record on Homelessness
During his tenure as Mayor of Greater Manchester, Burnham oversaw the "A Bed Every Night" programme, to which he pledged at least 15% of his salary. However, official figures from the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (2025) showed that rough sleeping increased by 3.4% to 154 on a single night in autumn 2024, up from 149 in 2023. This was still below the 2017 peak of 268. When questioned about the rise, Burnham emphasised the need for widespread support, referencing the "Everyone In" scheme during the Covid-19 pandemic that brought thousands of rough sleepers indoors. He said: "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... We did it then. We can do it now."
Charity Visit and National Statistics
After accompanying charity workers on street check-ins with rough sleepers, Burnham returned to The Passage to help prepare food, chopping mushrooms for breakfast and lunch. He told chief executive Mick Clarke: "When you have that experience, you can do something with it when you are back at the national level." The latest annual national statistics, published by the Government in February, estimated 4,793 people sleeping rough on a single night in autumn 2025 in England—a record high and the fourth consecutive annual increase. In London, figures from April showed 3,944 people sleeping rough in January–March 2026, down from 4,427 in the same period of 2025. Homeless Link noted that around a fifth of new rough sleepers in London had last been in asylum accommodation, with Chain researchers stating the asylum system remains "a significant route onto the streets of the capital."
Temporary Accommodation Trends
Official government data revealed a slight decrease in households in temporary accommodation—the first reduction in three years. There were 134,210 households at the end of December 2025, down from 134,700 at the end of September 2025, but still 5.0% higher than the 127,820 recorded at the end of December 2024. The number of children in temporary accommodation continued to rise, reaching 176,130 at the end of December, up from 175,930 in September and 165,450 a year earlier—a 6% year-on-year increase.
