Andy Burnham’s pledge to give every rough sleeper a route off the streets by Christmas has prompted warnings that the policy risks delivering a short-term improvement without addressing the structural causes of homelessness.
Freddy Gray, assistant editor of The Spectator, described the Prime Minister’s initiative as a “noble” objective but criticised its resemblance to the emergency accommodation programme introduced during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Burnham has ordered a national drive to ensure rough sleepers have access to accommodation this winter, arguing that no one should be forced to sleep outside a station or doorway.
The Government has committed an additional £102mn to immediate measures, including an £8.4mn increase for the Ending Homelessness in Communities Fund.
The initiative seeks to replicate the Everyone In scheme launched during the pandemic, which moved thousands of rough sleepers into hotels and other temporary accommodation.
Gray questioned whether repeating that model would represent a durable solution. While acknowledging that removing people from the streets was worthwhile, he argued that the approach could amount to “good messaging” without resolving the underlying pressures that push people into homelessness.
The criticism exposes a broader policy dilemma for Burnham: whether an emergency response can be converted into a permanent reduction in rough sleeping without substantially expanding affordable housing, supported accommodation and services addressing addiction, mental health and other drivers of homelessness.
Gray pointed to experience in other cities, including New York, where extensive use of temporary accommodation had helped remove people from the streets but had not eliminated the structural causes of homelessness.
Burnham has defended the urgency of the programme, arguing that Britain should not accept rough sleeping as a permanent feature of its cities.
The Prime Minister said the Government would provide the funding but called on local leaders and organisations to contribute to the effort.
The political test will now be whether the initiative produces more than a winter reduction in visible rough sleeping. A successful emergency intervention could provide Burnham with an early political win; a revolving door between temporary accommodation and the streets could instead reinforce criticism that the Government has treated the symptom rather than the cause.
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