Did Andy Burnham really fail to tackle homelessness as mayor?

During his time as mayor, Burnham backed Housing First, a government-funded initiative to give former rough sleepers a permanent home before wider issues are addressed, and it was introduced in the region in 2019.

It has seen a reported 458 people cumulatively rehoused, with 269 people currently on the programme.

A year earlier, Burnham set up ‘a bed every night’ scheme, which offered emergency accommodation to those on the streets, and now provides more than 600 bed spaces.

He assigned teams to help rough sleepers find permanent housing, addiction support and other types of care.

It led to a drop in the number of rough sleepers in Greater Manchester from 268 in 2017, to 90 in 2021. But the figure has risen each year since then.

The Manchester Mill reported that the figure had increased, external to 197 in 2025, a trend that follows the national picture.

The estimates are a snapshot gathered on a single night each year.

Speaking in 2025, Burnham said factors like the cost-of-living crisis and evictions from the asylum system had placed “a significant strain on services and leaves more people at risk of homelessness”.

Meanwhile, Paul Dennett, the Greater Manchester Combined Authority’s lead for Housing First blamed “austerity, welfare cuts, and the chronic undersupply of social housing” as major factors.