Andy Burnham's first month in power as the UK Prime Minister hasn't been chock-full of actionable efforts, but one measure he has started to push to a major extent is eliminating rough sleeping from the streets of England.
In one of his first major endeavours, Burnham has announced a new plan and a £442 million package that aims to provide emergency accommodation, practical support, and any health needs to those who are currently sleeping rough in the country. The plan is for the effort to build on the structure created to eliminate rough sleeping during the Covid-19 pandemic, with the Everyone In scheme being resurrected and expanded to put rough sleepers in hotels and temporary accommodation.
As for the timeline in mind by Burnham, he has promised to eliminate rough sleeping by Christmas, with Burnham specifically explaining, as per BBC News, the hope is to "get everyone in for Christmas".
The big question is whether Burnham will be successful at the end of the day, as Conservative shadow housing secretary Sir James Cleverley has already commented on the similarities between these new plans and Burnham's scheme to end rough sleeping in Manchester when he was mayor of the city, explaining the initiative "failed because he didn't do the hard work necessary".
Already there are concerns the current plan lacks in detail, with others curious about where the money for such an effort will be coming from, with Cleverly going a step further to note: "As with many of his other commitments, there is very little detail on how this one will be paid for."
