Manchester Council have been accused of social cleansing after a Freedom of Information revealed they were  spending £10,000 on one-way tickets to ‘get rid’ of the homeless

The council which had 78 rough sleepers last year, admitted it had spent almost £10,000 on one-way train tickets for homeless people in the past six years following the request from the Liberal Democrats.

Their sole council member John Leech said inca stinging statement:

“I am utterly appalled at this revelation but unfortunately not at all surprised, it is completely typical of this council’s apathetic attitude towards homelessness. Sweep the problem under the carpet and hope no-one notices – that’s the Manchester Labour way.

“Manchester’s homelessness strategy should be about getting people off the streets, not just the streets of Manchester. All this is doing is shunting them from one city to another and without a strong support network in the city they are sent to, they will be left in an even worse place.”

It was claimed that the strategy was set up to help homeless people return to their families and ten councils said they had bought tickets for homeless people between 2012 and 2017, but one man told how he was bought a ticket to a city he had never been to before, saying it made him ‘feel sick.’

Charity Homeless Link chief executive, Rick Henderson, said: “If a person has a support network in a different area, then helping them reconnect can help to end their rough sleeping.

“Simply displacing rough sleepers without offering support is not solving the issue, and at worst can exacerbate their situation, leaving them more isolated and at risk of deteriorating physical and mental health.”

However in a statement given to Granada reports Deputy Council Leader Cllr Bernard Priest said:

We always offer support to anyone who is genuinely homeless. For some people, who want to go back to their home town or city where they have a connection to family and friends, we offer support and – only with their agreement – we will we offer to buy a train ticket home as many don’t have the means to do this. To suggest there is something sinister about this is just plain wrong.

We would only do this if it helps them to get back into settled accommodation in a community they recognise as their home. We are not ashamed to be helping people get their lives back on track. Any authority who did this to evade their responsibilities would be beneath contempt.

Homelessness is a challenging issue which we have been working day and night to tackle along with a wide range of voluntary sector organisations and other partners.

We have invested an extra £1.5 million in services for homeless people this year alone and recently announced a £2m a year fund to support the building of more affordable homes.

We don’t pretend it’s not difficult. The nature of the issue is such that there are no easy or overnight solutions but we are making significant steps together.

It’s important to put a roof over people’s heads while they get their lives back on track. But it’s every bit as important that we provide ‘wraparound’ support to help people in emergency or temporary accommodation to address the issues which have contributed to them losing their homes so they can move into – and stay in – settled accommodation. This is what we are doing.”

 

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