Burnham should use Manchester as blueprint for national policy on homelessness, says thinktank

If Andy Burnham is using his Manchester policies as a blueprint for his national agenda, that is exactly what two thinktanks are urging the Prime Minister to do – at least when it comes to homelessness.

In a recent report, the Institute for Public Policy (IPPR) and its counterpart IPPR North have called on the government to roll out a national programme inspired by Greater Manchester’s A Bed Every Night programme and other initiatives.

In his first speech as Prime Minister, Burnham promised to put an end to rough sleeping – an announcement that rings familiar given it formed part of his Greater Manchester mayoral manifesto in 2017.

The report praises Greater Manchester’s housing initiatives, including the creation of shelters and emergency support, bringing long-term empty homes back into use for temporary accommodation, and strategic governance and funding models.

It also calls for greater powers for local government and a duty for registered providers to house rough sleepers when referred by the local authority under a stronger duty to cooperate. Housing associations are currently required to “co-operate to such extent as is reasonable in the circumstances” under the Housing Act 1996.

“Without a holistic, whole-government approach, efforts to reduce rough sleeping and homelessness will fail. A lack of political will was identified as a significant barrier to action on homelessness. Government must show that tackling homelessness is a national priority,” the report reads.

The IPPR and IPPR North paper, Home Truths: Housing-led approaches to homelessness was written by Dr Maya Singer Hobbs, India Gerritsen and Aleisha Omeike.

Hobbs, author and senior research fellow at IPPR, says: “We know these approaches work. We just need government to help support councils and mayors to put them into practice.”

The report shares key learnings from GMCA, which first published its homelessness prevention strategy in 2021 with an interim review in 2024.

Programmes initiated by the GMCA include a Housing First Unit to address barriers to supply and analyse costs and standards; A Bed Every Night which provides emergency accommodation; a prevention programme for young people to prevent homelessness and a Rough Sleeping Social Impact Bond partially funded by central government, which has supported rough sleepers into long-term homes.

In 2025, the GMCA approved funding for 17 Empty Homes officers for a £10.6m programme of lease and repair to bring 400 properties back into use. The city region has an estimated 12,700 homes that have been empty for six months or more. There are more than a million empty homes in England, according to estimates.

The IPPR researchers call on the government to adapt the GMCA approach to empty homes into a national programme to replace hotels as temporary accommodation and other housing-led interventions.

The report also sees GMCA’s pooled funding streams as a strength, incentivising engagement from multiple organisations and stakeholders – A Bed Every Night drew funding from NHS, probation, police and crime budgets, alongside the mayor’s charity.

It also praised the GMCA for its evidence-led approach, investing in data frameworks to inform policy and to spot where people fall through the cracks in existing systems.

As part of the paper’s recommendations, the researchers called for councils to be granted transitionary funding to transfer to a new housing-led approach, recommending a two-year period of double funding to recruit and train staff and support workers. It also called for the Social and Affordable Homes Programme funding to be brought forward to kickstart the delivery of council and social housing.

Other recommendations include strategic planning powers to set ambitious affordable housing targets through Section 106, with a proportion of 50% affordable homes on public land and 35% elsewhere.

The researchers also call for legislative changes to the Homelessness Reduction Act (2014) to remove priority need and intentional homelessness.

They also call for the establishment of a national strategy delivery unit, learning from the Rough Sleepers Unit of the 1990s and 2000s, to set targets and build on the success of A Bed Every Night.

According to analysis by IPPR North and IPPR, should homelessness continue to increase at the rate of the past five years, 25% more people will be facing homelessness by 2030. This would equate to an additional 50,000 unhoused.  

According to The Guardian, officials have said Burnham’s government will put an extra £340m into its homelessness strategy from unused parts of the housing department budget. This would be in addition to the £3.5bn allocated to tackling homelessness by the previous government.

Find out more Read the report: Home Truths: Housing-led approaches to homelessness by the IPPR and IPPR North