After committing to eradicating the problem of thousands of individuals living on the streets shortly after taking office on July 20th, Andy Burnham announced in an opinion piece in The Guardian that the executive will implement a program with an emergency allocation of £102 million (approximately €120 million).
This amount will be added to the previously announced £340 million (€397 million) and will be managed at the local level. The Labour leader stated that it is up to local managers to determine what type of assistance is most needed in their respective communities, emphasizing that the goal is to ensure that 'everyone has shelter at Christmas.'
Burnham also announced an unprecedented summit focused on the issue of homelessness, scheduled for the autumn, although the exact date has not yet been set.
In a statement, the Government detailed that new support services and accommodations will be established for the coming winter in England, following the model of the program applied in March 2020, at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, which allowed thousands of homeless people to be accommodated in hotels and emergency facilities.
In response to Burnham's announcement, the non-governmental organization Shelter praised the change the program represents but asked the Government to also adopt measures to solve the global housing crisis, mentioning that about 178,000 children live in temporary accommodation.
Politically, the opposition, represented by the Conservatives, expressed concern over the Labour leader's announcement, criticizing it for being made 'without an implementation plan or funding details.' The anti-immigration party Reform UK classified the government plan as vague.
Official data indicates that the number of people living on the streets in England reached a record high of 4,793 in 2025, while the Public Policy Research Institute estimates this number will grow by 25% by 2030.