Manchester mayor pledges £5m for homeless during pandemic

The Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham has launched a £5m fund to house the homeless during the coronavirus pandemic.

625 hotels rooms have been made available to house the city-region’s rough sleeping population and those in shared hostels to help protect them from the risks posed by coronavirus and allow them to self-isolate.

A further 375 hotel rooms are being sourced in the next 48 hours.

Manchester already runs the successful A Bed Every Night scheme which operates emergency accommodation in each of the 10 boroughs. However, with much of that accommodation reliant upon the use of shared spaces such as bedrooms and kitchens, an alternative solution has been sourced as an urgent priority.

Across Greater Manchester, officials estimate roughly 1,000 individuals will require hotel rooms, including 720 who will have moved out of shared emergency accommodation and an estimated 280 who might be expected to slept rough over the 12 week period initially proposed for the scheme.

A number of former rough sleepers accommodated in hotels will be supplied with mobile phones to enable them to remain in contact with support workers. This also enable those support workers to practice their own essential social distancing. Adult social workers and health workers, will be re-deployed to support individuals in hotels.

Mayor Andy Burnham said: ‘I’m announcing extensive plans to support people sleeping rough and in shared temporary accommodation in our city-region as a matter of urgency – this is our humanitarian response at a time of a national public health crisis.

‘The negative impact street homelessness can have on a person’s mental and physical health is well known, and that is before you take into account the very real risks posed by possibly catching coronavirus.

‘We have moved swiftly to work with our 10 local authorities, NHS and the private and faith sectors to source enough accommodation in some of our city-region’s large hotels for everyone who needs it.

‘We are assisting some people accommodated in A Bed Every Night into these rooms while others are being supported from the streets or from situations where they are experiencing an imminent risk of sleeping rough.

‘We will provide essential services of food, access to medicines, targeted support and somewhere safe to stay during an incredibly challenging time for them.’