New Prime Minister pledges to end rough sleeping
22 July 2026
We welcome Andy Burnham’s commitment to ending rough sleeping and stand ready to play our part.
Most people will now be aware that Andy Burnham’s first announcement as Prime Minister, was that working to end rough sleeping would be his ‘first instruction’; this was combined with an announcement of £340 million to help ‘long-term’ rough sleepers with accommodation and support. For Thames Reach, an organisation whose mission is to end rough sleeping and which has a particular focus on people who have been on the streets for longer, this is welcome news.
This is not the first time a political leader, or even a Prime Minister, has made a pledge like this. However, as mayor of Manchester, Mr Burnham was notably engaged with the issue of homelessness and rough sleeping, not least by donating 15% of his salary to the ‘bed every night’ scheme in Manchester.
A gradual increase in the number of people sleeping rough in Manchester after an initial significant drop in 2017/8 may only underline the point that while local solutions to homelessness and rough sleeping are important, this is not a problem with purely local solutions. While access to housing is a vital part of the solution, it is a more complex issue that requires commitment and coordination from many other parts of government and society, notably the health, criminal justice and asylum systems as well as charities and other community organisations.
Ending rough sleeping means making sure that people can stay off the streets for good, but it also means making sure that our systems do not default to homelessness for people who are poor, who have experienced multiple disadvantage, and who do not have the help that many of us take for granted.
Political leadership is key to this co-ordinated response, and we welcome the leadership that Mr Burnham has given. As ever, Thames Reach is ready to play our part in ending rough sleeping.
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