Burnham Pledges to Double Homelessness Funding as Christmas Deadline for Ending Rough Sleeping Nears

Prime minister Andy Burnham is set to double government spending on ending rough sleeping to almost £900m by the end of the current parliament, as he intensifies efforts to get people off the streets by Christmas.

Burnham has made it a central part of his premiership to offer every rough sleeper in England either a safe route off the streets or wider support. The new budget adds a further £432m to the effort. That comes on top of an initial £442m drawn from Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government budgets, which is due to be allocated before March 2027.

The announcement comes ahead of a Downing Street summit on Monday that will bring together charities, businesses, housing providers and local leaders. Burnham said: "Rough sleeping isn't a fact of life. It's a thing governments either choose to accept or don't." He added that the doubled funding means people will be offered a safe route off the streets this winter and will receive the same support for the rest of the parliament. "But we can't do it alone," he said.

Work toward the goal is already under way, with two months left before the deadline. Specialist outreach teams and new accommodation spaces are operating in Coventry, and further provision is being rolled out in places including Plymouth and Camden over the coming weeks.

The extra money is intended to address the problem over the longer term. As mayor of Greater Manchester, Burnham introduced schemes such as A Bed Every Night, which offered emergency accommodation. The number of rough sleepers there fell but later began to rise again. Burnham has previously explained that Greater Manchester was the only place offering that level of support, so people travelled there to access it. He has said national success depends on "all areas pulling in the same direction."

Other organisations are making their own commitments. The National Housing Federation is working with housing associations to identify at least 2,000 potential homes and bed spaces, including empty properties that could be brought back into use. Virgin Media O2 will provide practical digital support to frontline organisations, while the charities St Mungo's and Haircuts4Homeless will work with L'Oréal on hair salons and wellbeing provision for people who have slept rough.

Housing secretary Angela Rayner called it a "big ambition" and said the government would "not back down" from ensuring everyone has the offer of a route off the streets this Christmas. She said the first step is giving people a roof and freedom from the nightly struggle to find somewhere safe, but that "Christmas is only the beginning."

The homelessness charity Shelter welcomed the move. Its acting CEO, Mairi MacRae, said the funding showed "the government understands that a safe home is not a privilege, it is a necessity."

The Conservatives were critical. Shadow housing secretary Katie Lam accused Burnham of "throwing another £432m at a problem he failed to solve in Greater Manchester" and said rough sleeping has hit record highs under Labour. She urged chancellor John Healey to use his budget this week to cut taxes for working people, control the benefits bill and stop pushing up energy prices.