Coronavirus homeless action must be continued

The leaders of Greater Manchester and West Midlands have called for guaranteed accommodation for every homeless person, following action to tackle homelessness during the pandemic.

In an interview with the homeless charity Crisis, Andy Burnham and Andy Street, the mayors of Greater Manchester and the West Midlands respectively, said that the UK needed a reset of homelessness policy and emergency homelessness legislation should provide safe accommodation throughout the outbreak.

Together, they have called on the government to guarantee that everyone who is homeless gets temporary accommodation over the next 12 months, regardless of their immigration status and other legal barriers.

Figures show some 20,000 households in England have been made homeless during the pandemic despite a nationwide eviction ban, which is due to expire on 20 September.

The government’s Everyone In scheme – which spent £3.2 million on getting people off the streets and into accommodation – was used as an example of what could be done when homelessness was made a priority. Burnham said this should lead to a ‘reset moment’, whereby the country needs to ensure it doesn’t slip back to previous levels of rough sleeping and inaction to tackle it.

He further highlighted that the ‘no recourse to public funds’ (NRPF) policy that pre-coronavirus prevented many people who are homeless from accessing support, was ‘incompatible’ with the goal of ending rough sleeping for good.

Jon Sparkes, the chief executive of Crisis, said: “We are delighted to have their backing for our Home For All campaign and the emergency homelessness legislation we’ve proposed to government.”

In the West Midlands, about 800 people had been moved into safe accommodation during the pandemic, Street added. Burnham said in Greater Manchester close to 2,000 people had been supported.