This week’s announcement of £442 million to tackle rough sleeping is welcome, alongside the Government’s ambition to end long-term rough sleeping at the earliest opportunity.
Greater Manchester has already shown what can be achieved through programmes like Housing First and A Bed Every Night. We need to build on that work and make sure people have somewhere safe and secure to go.
And we know ending rough sleeping is only part of the challenge.
I’ve been raising the issue of children living in temporary accommodation in Oldham. We cannot accept families spending months or years without the security of a permanent home.
That’s why we need to keep fixing Oldham’s wider housing market: building more genuinely affordable and social homes, improving standards, tackling the over-concentration of HMOs, and preventing homelessness before it happens.
Ending rough sleeping means tackling the causes of homelessness too. That work starts with making sure everyone has a decent, secure home
