Andy Burnham, who became the UK’s prime minister in July 2026, made tackling rough sleeping a central priority in his first address after forming a government. Speaking outside Downing Street, he committed to immediate action, saying his first directive would target the elimination of rough sleeping nationwide. In August, he described the goal as giving people sleeping rough “a route out” and said he wanted “to get everyone in for Christmas.” The pledge puts emergency accommodation and practical support at the forefront of the government’s response.
The scale of the challenge is reflected in official figures reported by BBC News: an estimated 4,793 people were sleeping rough in England on a single night in autumn 2025, a 96% increase over five years and the highest total recorded under the current measurement approach. The figure covers England, not the whole United Kingdom. Burnham’s announced response includes an additional £102 million in new funding, bringing his stated total commitment to rough sleeping since becoming prime minister to £442 million. The package is intended to help provide emergency accommodation and support, including for health-related needs.
Burnham outlined a broader 10-year plan for Britain, promising to reshape the economy and address the ongoing cost-of-living crisis. He emphasised structural change, including education reforms to support youth employment and expanded mental health services. He also promised a impressive increase in council housing construction. The government’s emergency accommodation programme sits alongside that longer-term housing agenda. Pressure on homelessness services is also evident in Cheltenham, where YMCA Cheltenham reported providing more than 100,000 nights of emergency accommodation in the 12 months covered by BBC reporting, compared with 47,000 in 2021. From 2025 to 2026, the charity supported 652 people through its housing services, including 116 families and 78 children. It also supported 55 young people aged 16 to 24.
The prime minister also highlighted the importance of building a more preventative state, with investment directed at supporting people’s success rather than managing failure. He described his government as a “circuit breaker” for the country, aiming to deliver the most impressive changes in four decades. Burnham criticised past policies that centralised political power and privatised economic assets, arguing that many regions had yet to recover from deindustrialisation and still felt left behind. His wider programme has been described as combining cost-of-living measures with public control of services and regional devolution. It also includes reindustrialisation and a major expansion of social housing.
In his speech, Burnham promised to decentralise authority, giving local communities more control and responsibility. He argued that returning impressive services to stronger public oversight would make basic needs more affordable. He also acknowledged the political instability of recent years, noting that he was the sixth person to assume the role in a decade. Delivery of the rough-sleeping pledge is framed as a joint effort: “Government will put the money in. But I’m asking leaders in communities and sectors across society to play their part locally too,” Burnham said. Local authority grants are one way the programme is being put into practice. Leeds City Council, for example, received £1.6 million from the national Rough Sleeping Programme.
Burnham’s approach also links emergency help to preventing homelessness before people lose their homes. As mayor of Greater Manchester, he argued that restoring Local Housing Allowance to reflect real rental costs, alongside faster delivery of council and social homes, would help prevent homelessness. Local Housing Allowance sets the level of housing-benefit support for many private renters, making its relationship to rising rents a basic issue in the wider policy debate. A Downing Street homelessness summit was scheduled before the government’s first Budget, bringing together MPs and charities amid calls to end the allowance’s two-year freeze. The charity Crisis also called for a homelessness tsar to improve coordination across government. The debate highlights the distinction between funding immediate shelter and addressing the affordability and housing-supply pressures that can lead people into homelessness.
Burnham said proposals to ease the cost of living would be unveiled the following day, with funding details to come. He stressed the urgency of providing immediate relief to households under financial pressure while setting out a long-term vision for national renewal. London Mayor Sadiq Khan backed the objective, saying he shared Burnham’s “passion” to “reduce and end rough sleeping” and hoped for further support for homelessness work in the capital. Frontline capacity remains a practical concern: a survey cited by Inside Housing found that more than four in five workers had difficulty finding suitable housing, while 52% said the problem had worsened over the previous 12 months.
The UK has faced persistent challenges with homelessness and rising living costs over the past decade. Separate indicators underline the pressure on services: Transport for London bus drivers reported 3,229 rough sleepers during the final quarter of 2024 to 25, 29% more than a year earlier. That operational tally is not a census and is distinct from the autumn 2025 one-night estimate for England. Burnham’s strategy combines immediate accommodation and support with wider measures to address housing supply and rental affordability, alongside local delivery. Its impact will depend on sustained political commitment and cooperation across government and communities. It will also hinge on turning the national pledge into practical routes out of homelessness.
