Andy Burnham, Mayor of Greater Manchester supports the findings of the Kerslake Commission on Homelessness and Rough Sleeping, whose interim report was published today.

The Commission’s final report A new way of working: ending rough sleeping together, sends a clear message that without urgent action the benefits and lessons learned from the joint working during the pandemic will be wasted, and the number of people having to sleep on the streets will rise again.

The stark assessment comes as the pandemic support measures – including the £20-a-week uplift in Universal Credit and the furlough scheme – are due to end. This, coupled with rises in energy prices, inflation and National Insurance, is likely to put more and more people at risk of homelessness.

The Commission’s final report makes 12 key recommendations which it says must be actioned if the positives achieved during the pandemic are not to be lost.

These include: the Government developing a longer term rough sleeping strategy built on the success of their Everyone In policy; the maintenance of the £20 Universal Credit uplift; increased joint working by all organisations involved in homelessness by extending the Homelessness Reduction Act’s Duty to Refer, to make it a Duty to Collaborate; introducing a Quality Assurance framework for those providing homelessness accommodation; establishing a clear policy position that limiting access to benefits for non UK nationals should stop short of causing destitution; reducing the reliance on communal shelters through improving planning in relation to extreme cold or severe heat.

Andy Burnham said: “The work of The Kerslake Commission on Homelessness and Rough Sleeping has been invaluable, not least during the pandemic. Their important and incisive analysis has shone a light on an often hidden humanitarian crisis, and this final report provides a clear-eyed analysis of the problems and a set of deliverable solutions that deserve serious consideration.

“Government’s response to homelessness during the height of the pandemic – providing resource to accommodate and support even the most entrenched rough sleepers in safe and secure accommodation through the ‘Everyone In’ scheme – shows that it is indeed possible to support vulnerable people from our streets, and provide the wrap-around support they so badly need.

“In Greater Manchester we have been working hard to tackle homelessness and end the need for rough sleeping right across our city-region. Innovative schemes like A Bed Every Night contributed to an almost 50% reduction in the two years prior to the pandemic. However, this progress is in jeopardy – the £20-a-week Universal Credit uplift is set to end, and with it the crucial additional financial support that has helped so many to avoid the threat of imminent rough sleeping. As a priority, Government should reverse its decision and ensure the uplift is maintained.

“Our ambitious new Greater Manchester Homelessness Prevention Strategy sets out a clear system-wide proposal for radically reducing homelessness, and the threat of homelessness, across the city-region. In 2021, it cannot be right that anyone lives without a home or is forced to spend a night on the streets. Now is the time for radical action nationwide, and Government must set out a clear set of ambitions and develop a long-term rough sleeping strategy. Let’s learn the lessons of this pandemic and make homelessness a thing of the past.”

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