At last something is being done about Greater Manchester’s homeless problem.

Fire stations are to turn spare space into shelters, GPs are to treat people without a permanent address and Manchester council is to buy up cheap housing across the city and allow people without homes to live there.

At the same time the region’s public sector leaders - led by mayor Andy Burnham - have issued an appeal to the Prime Minister, calling on her to halt the government’s roll-out of Universal Credit.

(Image: Manchester Evening News)

The latest welfare change will only make local efforts to end homelessness ‘dramatically worse’, the mayor has warned.

The plan came after a meeting of all public sector bodies from across Greater Manchester this morning to come up with practical ways to solve the significant crisis.

A homeless person is currently approaching council every 20 minutes to ask for help.

This is what has been agreed.

Manchester council to buy up housing

(Image: PA)

The town hall is currently spending around £1.5m a year on temporary accommodation for people who have suddenly found themselves homeless - particularly families.

That can mean placing people in unsuitable bed and breakfasts, often in poor conditions, while private landlords pocket the resulting housing benefit.

Deputy council leader Bernard Priest said the town hall planned to start ‘in the next two weeks’ buying up around a dozen homes in various parts of the city, initially at a cost of around £1m, with a view to rolling out that policy further.

“We can’t build housing cheaply enough to do this, so we are going to buy some existing properties spread across the city,” he said.

“What it allows us to do is target our support, knowing that when they receive that support they are in decent accommodation.”

At the same time the NHS is going to pull together support services to go into that accommodation - and other shelters - to provide healthcare much more directly, according to the region’s chief health officer Jon Rouse.

GP access for the homeless

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Currently people with no registered address can find it impossible to access basic health services.

Jon Rouse said all Greater Manchester’s clinical commissioning groups - the GP leaders in charge of primary care - have now pledged to end that situation, following a similar approach in Bury, Oldham and Rochdale by the GP group BARDOC.

“We want to make sure any individual with no fixed abode who wants to register with a GP is enabled to do so,” said Mr Rouse, “and with a GP who can actually help meet their needs.”

That will include having a proper patient record, he said, so that they do not slip through the net in future.

Fire stations to provide winter homelessness shelters

(Image: Joel Goodman)

The region’s fire service is to open up spare space this winter in partnership with charities and voluntary groups.

Councillor Beth Knowles, who is leading Andy Burnham’s homelessness strategy with Bury South MP Ivan Lewis, said it showed today’s meeting of all public bodies across the region was a ‘brilliant’ demonstration of Greater Manchester coming together on the issue.

“The fire service have 24/7 staffed centres in almost every town and city, so they’ve offered their community rooms in their centres to be able to be used for evening provision - whether that’s for food to be given, or for sleeping service as well,” she said.

“The voluntary sector have committed to be able to support that service as well, with the mental health services that are needed and the housing move-on support that’s needed.”

Nearly £2m for direct work with rough sleepers

(Image: Manchester Evening News)

This was the most financially significant announcement from the meeting.

A £1.8m contract, agreed with the government, will be awarded to an organisation - likely to be a housing provider or charity - for direct work with people on the streets in need of immediate help.

The ‘social impact bond’, which is provided by government on the basis that it can demonstrate tangible results, will support getting around 100 people off the streets, according to Mr Burnham.

“That support will begin to be made available in a matter of weeks,” he said.

“This is the biggest change yet that we’ve been able to get to grips with the problem we’re facing. It’s a big announcement. People will begin to see a difference in a reasonably short period of time.

“And that will give named individuals - and we already know some of those who might benefit - the ability to move from the streets into supported accommodation.”

Hospitals will no longer discharge onto the streets

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The NHS is also looking at ensuring any homeless person treated in hospital is not simply turfed back out into a doorway.

“We’re very concerned about people in hospital, that they should not be discharged onto the street,” said Jon Rouse.

“So we’re going to set ourselves a goal that nobody who is discharged from hospital is discharged onto the street.

“We’re hoping to do that by joining up our discharge teams with housing services within local authorities.”

The Royal Oldham hospital already has a housing officer working in its discharge team, he added, and so that will now be rolled out across the region.”

A new homeless shelter in Chorlton

(Image: Manchester Evening News)

The Manchester Evening News reported last week how Manchester council intends to convert a former care home on Edge Lane into a shelter for people who have just been made homeless.

After two local public meetings on the issue, Coun Bernard Priest said there had been ‘significant’ support for the proposal within the local community.

Volunteers have already come forward, as well as donations.

A planning application for the centre, which requires a change of use permission, is due to be submitted today.

“If somebody has hit hard times, we have a moral duty to them,” he said. “That first night of homelessness is absolutely crucial, so I really want to be able to say if you’ve just lost your home, we will work with you tonight.

“There is a big problem at the moment in Britain with people who have just escaped the safety net, because that safety net is being dismantled.”

A joint warning to government

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Ministers are currently rolling out the latest phase of Universal Credit, the all-in-one benefit designed to streamline welfare provision.

Former government adviser Louise Casey last week warned that the latest roll-out would lead people to fall off a ‘cliff’ due to problems with its delivery, however, calling on the government to ‘pause’.

Today Andy Burnham said Greater Manchester’s public sector was united in the same view.

“This is not a political point from me, actually I’m speaking here for the NHS, public health colleagues, councils, police, fire - the entire public sector in Greater Manchester has supported what I’m about to say, which is a plea to the Prime Minister and the government to suspend the roll out of Universal Credit,” he said.

“It was the unanimous view of the meeting that if the roll-out goes ahead as planned it will make our problem dramatically worse.

“And I do say in all sincerity, with no politics at all in this, please listen to what those experts are saying and put that roll-out on hold.

“Because if things go ahead as planned, we will see a much greater problem unfold before our eyes.”