Greater Manchester will receive a significant sum of funding as part of a national call-out by Prime Minister Andy Burnham to end rough sleeping.
An initial fee of £6.1m will come this year to immediately support the crisis for people this winter, while £10.85 next year will look to provide sustainable and long-term accommodation apart of the city region’s A Bed Every Night service.
City Mayor of Salford, Paul Dennett, said: “There is no single solution to the housing crisis facing the whole country, and all of these measures will take time to be felt.
“This remains an urgent crisis – but it’s also one where recent years have seen real action at a national level.”
James Worthington, founder of Worthington Homeless Facility, spoke on the Prime Minister’s pledge.
He said: “Hopefully he’ll be a man of his word and deliver.
“It’s alright building things and putting people in there, but it needs proper investment”.
A package of £442 million was announced by the government last month, placing national focus on the drive to end rough sleeping.
Worthington, who was homeless as a teenager, believes investment into ending rough sleeping can “Help people thrive in life, and get people off the streets.”
Newly elected Mayor of Greater Manchester Bev Craig said: “I’m determined to ramp up the delivery of more council and genuinely affordable homes, building 50,000 by 2039 and giving more people the security that a good home brings”.
The Council is also investing more than £10 million to bring up to 400 empty properties back to use, in order to tackle the rising costs in temporary accommodation used to support families in the region.
