Burnham makes ending rough sleeping his first policy pledge as prime minister

The government said the first steps will involve helping those sleeping rough for a long period of time to move into secure housing, and includes the “acquisition of suitable homes”.

Burnham, in a statement after his first speech in Downing Street, said: “On my first day as prime minister, I’m announcing this government’s commitment to finally end long-term rough sleeping across the UK at the earliest opportunity.

“We’ll get to work immediately, bringing together national and local government with the investment needed to get it done.”

The latest annual national statistics, published by the government in February this year, estimated there were 4,793 people sleeping rough on a single night in autumn 2025 in England.

This was a new record high and the fourth annual increase in a row.

The number of people seen sleeping rough on a single night in Greater Manchester was recorded as 268 in 2017, 149 in 2023 and 154 in autumn 2024.

The Manchester Mill reported, external that the figure had increased to 197 in 2025.

Burnham visited homelessness charity The Passage in Victoria, London, hours before he made his first speech in Downing Street.

Challenged about his record, Burnham said the “problem was down significantly” from when he first became mayor of Greater Manchester.

He told broadcasters: “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.

“So it taught me that the only way is to do this together.”

Burnham referenced the Everyone In scheme during the Covid-19 pandemic, when thousands of rough sleepers across England were helped with housing.

He said: “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.”

Burnham’s pledge echoes one made by former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, who committed to providing 8,000 homes “immediately” to house people with a history of rough sleeping in the event of the party winning power.