The number of people seen sleeping rough on a single night in Greater Manchester reaches 149, up from 102 people in 2022, but remains 44% lower than in 2017
Data shows that over half of people seen over the course of December 2023 were new to the streets
Greater Manchester leaders are expressing serious concern, calling for a pause on evictions and government investment in refugee homelessness prevention
The single-night survey results, published today by Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities, found 149 people sleeping rough in Greater Manchester, up from 102 people in 2022.
After four years of reductions in the number of people counted across the city-region, decisions taken at national level – including the acceleration of asylum application processing, together with a reduction in notice periods for leaving accommodation and a chronic shortage of affordable, decent homes – have left many more people at risk of homelessness.
Data shows that over half (55%) of people seen over the course of December 2023 were new to the streets. In addition, 38% of individuals identified as newly experiencing rough sleeping in GM had been deemed to have left ‘an institution’ within 86 days – predominantly Home Office accommodation – rising from 8% in June 2023.
This 13-fold increase coincides with the start of the Home Office’s accelerated asylum decision-making programme, which has led to a significant increase in the volume and pace of asylum support cessations and evictions from asylum accommodation.
Despite significant progress preventing homelessness in areas where Greater Manchester enjoys strong collaboration between national government, local government and the VCFSE sector, national asylum and housing policy decisions continue to exert significant pressure on local authorities, leaving many people experiencing rough sleeping as a result.
Against this backdrop, Greater Manchester leaders are calling on Government to pause evictions from asylum accommodation until capacity in the homelessness system recovers, and for targeted investment to support local services in the areas most affected by the decisions.
Andy Burnham, Mayor of Greater Manchester, said:
“We have a clear mission in Greater Manchester: to build a coalition across the city-region to prevent and end homelessness and rough sleeping for the long term. Every night spent on the street is a night too many, and I’m pleased to see our approach to tackling long-term rough sleeping is paying dividends.
“We have known for months that the unsustainable pace at which people are receiving asylum decisions and being evicted from Home Office accommodation is contributing to rising rough sleeping across the UK and placing pressure on local services, far beyond our control. The impact of those choices, coupled with the ongoing cost-of-living crisis and the squeeze on local budgets, is borne out in the figures we see today.
“That’s why we are calling on the government to pause evictions and invest in a proper programme of prevention and integration. We urgently need to move away from this dysfunctional system to the kind of collaborative approach that we know can help us end rough sleeping once and for all.”
