Andy Burnham’s Rough-Sleeping Initiative in Manchester: Outcomes and Ongoing Challenges

Since taking office in 2017, Mayor Andy Burnham launched A Bed Every Night (ABEN), a funded accommodation programme intended to guarantee a place to sleep for anyone without a roof. The mayor also donated 15 percent of his mayoral salary to a homelessness charity. Official counts show that ABEN has helped “hundreds of people,” yet tents have never disappeared from Manchester’s streets. After the pandemic-era emergency housing that temporarily reduced rough sleeping, the number of visible tents began to rise again.

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Burnham’s pledge to end rough sleeping was framed against a backdrop of rapid skyscraper development in Manchester’s city centre, a visual contrast that highlighted growing public concern that economic growth was not benefiting the most vulnerable. The pandemic prompted a temporary surge in emergency accommodation, but the underlying issues resurfaced once those measures were lifted.

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Some homelessness experts argue that Manchester has become a “magnet for rough sleeping” because of the additional support on offer, attracting individuals from outside the region and even from other countries. They note a stark divide between people who merely need a short-term safety net and those facing “complex issues such as mental health problems and drug and alcohol addiction,” who may require years of multi-faceted intervention. The analysis also points to newly granted refugees facing sudden eviction from Home Office accommodation, leading to large groups living in tents near landmarks such as Manchester’s Town Hall.

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Burnham has repeatedly asserted that “it is not possible to improve people’s lives unless they have a secure roof over their head.” He acknowledges that the challenges “are multiple, few of which can be fixed quickly,” and suggests that, as Prime Minister, he will have “more levers and political capital to make it happen than he did back in 2017.”

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The analysis concludes that no single quick fix exists; addressing rough sleeping will likely require long-term, coordinated interventions across housing, health, and social services. The extent to which future political authority can translate into concrete reductions in visible homelessness remains uncertain.

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