Rough sleeping has almost doubled since Covid, a damning report found, with Andy Burnham calling on Sir Keir Starmer to make tackling homelessness a “moral mission”.
The Greater Manchester mayor piled pressure on the prime minister to follow the success of the region offering housing to the homeless.
“If you set people up to succeed – they largely do,” Mr Burnham said. He added: “Tackling homelessness is not just an economic imperative, but also a moral mission.”
Mr Burnham’s calls came as a report by the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) warned of an “explosion in homelessness” following the pandemic.
It found a 94 per cent increase in rough sleeping since Covid, with around 47,000 people sleeping on the streets in England in the last year.
The CSJ warned rough sleeping is “just the tip of the iceberg”, with councils across the country spending billions on temporary accommodation and being pushed to the brink of bankruptcy.
Labour’s manifesto promised to “put Britain back on track to ending homelessness” after saying progress tackling the crisis was undone under the Conservatives.
It committed to working with mayors and councils across the country on a strategy to end rough sleeping.
The CSJ called on Labour to adopt a so-called Housing First approach similar to Greater Manchester’s, which provides the homeless with immediate, unconditional access to permanent housing and ongoing support.
“Housing First has been shown to be the most effective and well-evidenced intervention to end homelessness for Britain’s most disadvantaged and entrenched rough sleepers,” the report said.
It found that Housing First is three and a half times more effective than conventional homelessness services, with 84 per cent of users sustaining long-term housing after three years in the programme.
Rolling out Housing First across England would take 5,571 people off the streets by 2029/30, around a tenth of all rough sleepers.
And the CSJ said it is “excellent value for money”, with every £1 spent freeing up £2 in temporary accommodation and other costs.
CSJ chief executive Andy Cook said: “Housing First has emerged as one of the most effective approaches to ending rough sleeping. Angela Rayner now has a unique opportunity to champion a national rollout which would be a gamechanger in the fight to end rough sleeping.”
And Liverpool mayor Steve Rotheram, whose region has also trialled Housing First, said: “We’ve proven it works. Now we need to match that with ambition, and make it the foundation of a national mission to end homelessness for good.”
And the Steve Morgan Foundation, which supports charities, said Housing First had been “transformative” and “it is now time for the government to take this success to the rest of England”.
Chairman Steve Morgan said: “I know firsthand the importance of a stable home. Without one, nothing else in life works, not your health, not your relationships, and not your ability to find or keep a job. That’s why I believe Housing First holds the key to tackling rough sleeping in England.”
A Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government spokesperson said: “We are taking urgent and decisive action to end homelessness, fix the foundations of local government and drive forward our Plan for Change.
“We are providing £1bn for crucial homelessness and rough sleeping services including funding for Housing First and other forms of accommodation for people who sleep rough.
“This is alongside tackling the root causes by building 1.5 million new homes, abolishing section 21 no fault evictions and boosting social and affordable housing – backed by £39bn investment.”
