Andy Burnham has pledged that his first directive as Prime Minister will be to end rough sleeping in the UK. Just hours before officially taking leadership of the UK government, he visited homelessness charity The Passage in Victoria, Central London.
Visit to The Passage
The organisation counts the Prince of Wales as its royal patron, with William having first visited in 1993 alongside his mother Diana, then Princess of Wales. Mr Burnham described his early morning visit as the best place to start ahead of taking office, noting the importance of witnessing the lives that are being turned around thanks to the organisation.
Addressing supporters and journalists from Downing Street in his inaugural speech as Prime Minister, he said: "We will help people to live well, building a more preventative state, investing in people's success rather than paying for failure. And that work starts now. I will soon go through that door behind me and issue my first instruction: to end rough sleeping in our country."
Alignment with Prince William's initiative
Mr Burnham's commitment closely aligns with a cause championed by Prince William, who launched his Homewards initiative in 2023, dedicated to tackling homelessness. In a speech the following year, the future king stated: "Homelessness is a complex societal issue and one that touches the lives of far too many people in our society. However, I truly believe that it can be ended."
Rough sleeping represents just one facet of homelessness, referring specifically to individuals bedding down on the streets, while other manifestations include residing in temporary accommodation arranged by local councils. During Mr Burnham's tenure as mayor, Greater Manchester operated the "A Bed Every Night" initiative – to which the politician pledged to contribute at least 15 per cent of his salary – aimed at providing shelter for rough sleepers.
Statistics and challenges
Official statistics released in 2025 by the Greater Manchester Combined Authority demonstrated that rough sleeping increased throughout his period in office. The number of individuals observed sleeping rough on a single night in Greater Manchester climbed by 3.4 per cent to 154 in autumn 2024 from 149 in 2023. The authority noted this remained below the peak of 268 recorded in 2017. When questioned about the increase during a Monday interview at The Passage, Mr Burnham indicated that comprehensive support is required to achieve meaningful change.
He referenced the "Everyone In" initiative during the Covid-19 pandemic, when thousands of rough sleepers throughout England were brought indoors. He said: "What I learned was, we ran a scheme every night, 600 beds, called A Bed Every Night and we funded it through various different ways. But we were the only place that was doing it and you won't be able to get the numbers down if you're the only place, and other cities, people are coming to Manchester."
He continued: "So it taught me that the only way is to do this together. Everybody pulling in the same direction, Everyone In, as we did in the pandemic – because we did bring people inside in the pandemic and that's what I'm saying as I go into Government today. We did it then. We can do it now. Get the basics right. Put a care for people at the heart of everything that we do and just get this country working as it should again."
Engagement with charity work
He described The Passage as "an amazing shelter that supports people who are street homeless, people recovering from homelessness". He added: "It was the best place to start, to see what is being done here, the lives that are being turned around." Following his time alongside charity workers during their routine visits to rough sleepers in the Victoria district, Mr Burnham headed back to The Passage premises to help with meal preparation by slicing mushrooms for the morning and midday meals.
He told the charity's chief executive, Mick Clarke, that he had "seen your world from the ground" as Manchester mayor. He said: "When you have that experience, you can do something with it when you are back at the national level. You change lives everyday (here)."
National and London rough sleeping figures
The most recent annual national figures, released by the Government in February this year, calculated there were 4,793 individuals sleeping rough on a single night in autumn 2025 in England. This represented a new peak and marked the fourth consecutive yearly rise. Data released in April revealed 3,944 people were sleeping rough in London in January-March 2026.
Homeless Link, which administers the Combined Homelessness and Information Network (Chain) homelessness database report, said this was down from 4,427 in the same period in 2025. Analysis of yearly statistics revealed that approximately one fifth of London's newly identified rough sleepers were individuals whose previous accommodation had been asylum housing.
The findings show the asylum system remains "a significant route onto the streets of the capital", researchers from Chain said. During the year ending in March, 4,978 individuals were recorded sleeping rough in London with documented information about their last settled residence. Among these cases, 21 per cent or 1,037 individuals stated they had previously been residing in asylum support accommodation.
Temporary accommodation trends
Separately, official Government statistics indicated a slight decrease in households living in temporary accommodation – marking the first decline in three years. Temporary accommodation is a category of homelessness and may include hostels, refuges, and bed and breakfast establishments. At the end of December 2025, 134,210 households were housed in such accommodation, declining from 134,700 at the end of September 2025, based on official data released by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government in April.
However, while the most recent figure dipped marginally beneath previous peak levels, it remained 5.0 per cent above the December 2024 figure of 127,820. The number of children in temporary accommodation has, nevertheless, continued its upward trajectory, reaching 176,130 at the end of December, rising from 175,930 at the end of September. This figure increased by 6 per cent year on year, up from 165,450 at the end of December 2024.
Previous government's record
When the Conservatives departed from government in 2024, they left behind an unfulfilled promise to eradicate rough sleeping – with figures having doubled since the party first came to power in 2010. The Tory administration's strategy had vowed to "intensify" its approach to combating homelessness and rough sleeping, with the stated ambition that "rough sleeping to be prevented wherever possible but when it does occur, it must be rare, brief and non-recurring". Yet the most recently available data revealed that the estimated number of people bedding down on the streets on a single autumn night in England in 2023 stood at 3,898 – more than double the 1,768 recorded in 2010.
