Burnham’s vow is having impact on the homeless
JUST over a year ago Andy Burnham was elected as Mayor of Greater Manchester. Voters across the region put their trust in the Labour politician, in part because of a bold and ambitious pledge – the promise to end roughsleeping by 2020.
It’s a sad reality that tents, cardboard box beds and little bundles of personal belongings have become a fixture of doorways and alleyways in Manchester city centre and beyond.
Indeed anyone who has walked through town recently may think the mayor was mad to have made such a promise. Apparently not – under his leadership, scores of people have already been helped off the streets by Greater Manchester’s ‘Social Impact Bond’ (SIB).
That the challenge is significant isn’t in doubt. Every night queues stretch outside Coffee4Craig’s outreach on Oldham Street, and crowds gather around the soup kitchens on Piccadilly Gardens.
Walking down Oxford Road one warm night last week, I spotted at least 12 pairs of feet sticking out of doorways along the almost half-mile stretch.
Last year two people died while sleeping rough in Salford, while another two passed away the previous year. Tragically, the average life expectancy for a man on the streets is just 47 – and for a woman, 43.
Despite all this, Burnham seems determined to keep his promise. So he has tasked some of the most experienced homelessness experts in the region with helping him get to the nub of the problem.
The outcome has been the SIB – a pioneering scheme which equips rough sleepers with the skills to help themselves in the long-term.
Helping the most entrenched members of this community has been first on the list of priorities.
These tend to be people who have been affected by addiction or mental health problems, or have some experience of the care system. Almost all have had to rely on benefits at some time or another.
For those in the grips of an addiction or struggling with mental health, taking each day as it comes is the easiest way to get by. If you can’t get a home without a job and you can’t get a job without a bank account – you may feel like you’re being set up to fail. That’s where the Social Impact Bond (SIB) comes in.
Recipients of the bond are homeless people who have been referred to this region-wide scheme. They are assessed, housed and supported over three years - with their health, wellbeing and ambitions.
It came about after Greater Manchester Combined Authority last year went into partnership with social landlords to find homes for rough sleepers.
Housing partners find the accommodation and are then recompensed if they can prove that they have successfully housed an individual. Charities provide furnishings.
Combined Authority bosses expected around 300 people to sign up to the scheme. Perhaps half would drop out, they thought. But instead more than 500 people from across the region’s 10 boroughs have been referred to the SIB – and they’re sticking with it.
In fact there has been such demand that bosses had to stop taking referrals three months early.
It was initially estimated that the £1.8m of government money to be used for the SIB contract would support around 100 people to get off the streets over three years. But, because of the scale of demand, the authority has had to ‘pause’ referrals to the scheme.
The combined authority may now go back to the government and other potential funders to ask for more cash to extend the programme further.
This is testament to its success and proof of its value.
So far 109 people have been rehomed through the scheme, while a further 60 have had a wellbeing assessment.
Around half of the homeless people referred into the scheme have come from the city of Manchester.
The rest come from the other nine boroughs of the region. The effect of the scheme has been to highlight rough-sleeper communities chiefs didn’t even know existed, and to bring in more homeless women, young people, and people with mental health problems.
“All boroughs have referred in and all boroughs are housing people,” Mike Wright, GMCA’s strategic lead for