> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.oldham-owl.co.uk/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Rough sleeping isn't just Andy Burnham's problem - URL: https://www.oldham-owl.co.uk/rough-sleeping-isnt-just-andy-burnhams-problem/ - Published: 2026-09-17T16:09:40.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-15T11:37:53.000Z - Description: Local authorities and charities will do the bulk of the work on rough sleeping - Author: Sam Rodgers - Tags: News In one of his first announcements as Prime Minister, Andy Burnham promised to end rough sleeping in our country. *The Oldham Owl* has looked at the problem locally to assess his chances of success. What does a prime ministerial promise actually mean? Lawmaking in this country is a formalised process: there's a green paper, which is a consultation, then a white paper, which is a statement of what the Government intends to do about something. There is a public consultation of (usually) 12 weeks, and an equalities impact assessment. The Government present a Bill to Parliament, and it goes through a process of debate and amendment. The King signs it off, and that's that: a law is born. The shortcut to solving the problem of rough sleeping is to outlaw rough sleeping, engage the Army to corral the stragglers and hold-outs, and requisition unused buildings or units of buildings to put people in. That's not going to happen, so what is? The Prime Minister has spoken, laid it on the line for both the public and the civil service on TV, in Downing Street. Does everyone drop everything else to start work immediately on realising his dream? Of course not. --- ### "What is there to think?" Yasmin had been homeless for around five months when I met her outside the Tesco on Huddersfield Road. Originally from Bury, she was sleeping rough in Manchester for a while before arriving in Oldham. Yasmin claimed it’s slightly better in Oldham - the people are friendlier and, consequently, more generous. With tired eyes, she told me she’s not sure what the government could do to help her. When I asked her thoughts on Andy Burnham’s latest promise to eradicate rough sleeping, she said: “Fuck knows. What is there to think?” In an hour-long walk around Oldham that night, I saw rough sleepers scattered under doorways and archways in the centre, outside churches and in the multi-storey car park near Mumps. When I returned home, my flatmate informed me of a squat down the road where a friend of his was attacked. This grim picture shows why Andy Burnham’s promise is idealistic (to put it kindly) or just plain old BS (which is how his opponents will characterise it). It’s not the first time that Burnham has set his sights on ending rough sleeping. In his nine-year tenure as the Mayor of Greater Manchester, he made ending rough sleeping a recurring pledge, explicitly stating in 2017: “I have made ending rough sleeping across the city region by 2020 one of my top mayoral priorities.” Oldham Council made it clear to me that people sleeping rough and homelessness are high priority. “We are very proud of the support work we provide to people sleeping rough. These services are commissioned locally and delivered through our voluntary, community and social enterprise partners. We focus on providing support that is tailored to each person's needs and recognise the valuable insight and understanding that people with lived experience bring to helping those who are sleeping rough.” According to Depaul UK, 72% of people who come through the A Bed Every Night (ABEN) scheme successfully move into accommodation. ABEN was created by Burnham in 2018 to provide shelter, food and assistance for people sleeping rough in Greater Manchester. Oldham Council has a designated rough sleeping co-ordinator and a rough sleeping navigator. The job titles aren't massively helpful, invoking as they do someone getting rough sleepers into line or dressing them appropriately...while someone with a compass and a sextant finds the path of least resistance. The council says that its rough sleeping co-ordinator gathers information about people who are sleeping rough or at risk of sleeping rough. They then work with the rough sleeping outreach service to locate the people and attempt to connect them with support. The rough sleeping navigator provides ongoing support to the die-hardest rough sleepers to ensure that they do not return to rough sleeping. The council also has a dual diagnosis service, which aims to bridge the gap between mental health services and treatment for addiction. Oldham has one of the highest proportions of homelessness per population among neighbouring boroughs, with 1,347 people affected (1: 187), compared with 2,327 people in Salford (1: 126) and 1,088 in Tameside (1: 220). It's important to note that homelessness and rough sleeping are technically different from a public administration point of view: all rough sleepers are homeless, but not all homeless people are rough sleepers. ### Reverend James So much for the stats. What does life on the street actually involve? Reverend Arthur Janes, minister of Oldham’s Baptist Church and an Oldham resident for 11 years, told me about a man he and the church helped by providing food and clothes. He’d first arrived without shoes and was sleeping behind a tram stop. One day, someone trashed and burnt down the makeshift camp that he called home, taking away the little stability and comfort he had. Upon hearing this news, two local ladies took it upon themselves to help the young man out, putting him in touch with a landlord, and the lad now has his own place. While such stories highlight what can happen when residents pull together, it also begs the question: why was it left to these two local ladies to support the man? That begs another question: why should the state do what two local ladies will do voluntarily, out of fellow feeling? The man still attends Warm Space – a service the Baptist church provides where anyone can go in on a Friday from 12 noon to 2 pm for a meal. Even when people find accommodation, they remain vulnerable and in need of support. Warm Space is another example of the local community action. However, due to consistently high demand over the years, there is often not enough food to go around, and with only three workers available to help, the situation can be overwhelming. Arthur revealed that at the most recent Warm Space, these three workers had to cater for 30 people in just 50 minutes. Throughout my meeting with Arthur, there was a sense that the church and wider community are filling gaps. In 2019, seven churches in the area, including Oldham Baptist Church, worked together over three winter months to provide nightly shelter for those in need. Arthur says he is looking to organise something similar this year, stating that if they can get four or five churches to agree to the proposal, then it’ll be worth it. However, with no real funding and a reliance on good will, it will take plenty of work to pull off. Even on the brief walk to our meeting that day, I noticed three tents pitched under an archway near the bus station. Arthur makes it clear that, from where he’s standing, the system is simply not working, and that extra funding from the council would help a great deal. “Not much has changed. Too many people are slipping through the net…it’s a vicious cycle.” He is encouraged by Andy Burnham's pledge but, like many, believes the approach is too idealistic. “It’s like me saying I could run the London Marathon in two hours. I’d be dead in 10 minutes.” An air of disillusionment pervades the conclusion of our conversation as Arthur tells me about a recent trip to Manchester city centre and being shocked at the number of rough sleepers he encountered. “There was someone in just about every doorway.” He says it was the same on a trip to Paris and that the problem is universal. Despite this, he firmly believes that the problem should not exist in modern society. “There’s enough empty buildings that could be used. For some that might be short term, for others it might be longer, but they should be used.” ### Street Angels Churches aren’t the only community organisations filling in the gaps. Established in 2011, Oldham’s Street Angels began as a volunteer service supporting the town’s night-time economy and have since become a pillar of the civic life. Whether it's delivering first aid, getting people home safely, or simply providing a listening ear. From their base on Rhodes Street, they also run a drop-in service offering warm food, clothing and toiletries. As coordinator of volunteers and facilities, Karla has had a major hand in making Oldham’s Street Angels the service it has become. Yet the struggles she and her team face are constant. For one thing, operating from a relatively small space means capacity is a problem. “This building can only fit 15 people. Sometimes in winter we’ll have 25 hungry people waiting outside. We’re forced to ask people to leave once they’ve eaten their meal.” There is just one medical room. They rely on volunteers and donations. A recent and very rare capital grant has allowed Oldham’s Street Angels to begin work on extending their base, providing an extra toilet and eating area which Karla tells me will easily double the number of people they can fit into the building and help. The council has also been working collaboratively to assist and is set to release its next five-year strategy shortly. Despite the obvious issues, Karla feels that the people at the council genuinely care. “They work tirelessly, some of them 24/7! I think Oldham as a whole has been successful in meeting demands and handling move-on situations.” Arthur and Karla agree that community initiatives are key to success alongside the politically driven work of local authorities. One morning, Karla spotted a man sleeping in a tent on a ringroad roundabout, so reached out to some people working in local organisations. They were already aware of the situation and who the man was, and by the end of the day had managed to support him. The bus station staff will give the Street Angels a shout with any welfare concerns; the Sanctuary Trust outreach team works from the Street Angels site to locate and provide immediate care to rough sleepers; and even within Street Angels itself, their guests, no matter how vulnerable, will often help one another when they can. Rough sleeping prevention is a priority for Street Angels, particularly in a climate where people have to choose between heating and eating. Even people who “play by the rules” and manage to get back on their feet often need to return to the Street Angels base for a warm meal. In Karla’s view, whereas people were previously maybe a few bad months away from homelessness, they are now just a few weeks. “The majority of people just want a helping hand out of the shit. I’ve seen too many people stabilise and find peace…and then die too early.” Rough sleeping is one thing, and people caught between the streets and temporary accommodation, or who've been housed after a period of rough sleeping, are another. The lasting solution has to involve dealing with the people caught in that trap. Across Greater Manchester, 5,915 households were in temporary accommodation at the end of March 2025\. The GMCA says temporary accommodation use nearly doubled since 2019 at an annual cost of around £77.5 million. In Oldham, the number of households in temporary accommodation rose from 394 to 614 during 2023-24\. At the end of November 2025, 551 households were living in temporary accommodation, with the council spending around £11 million on temporary accommodation in 2024-25 and projected spending of around £8.7 million in 2025-26\. People can be moved into temporary accommodation, but where are they supposed to be moved on to? How can the country, Greater Manchester or even Oldham realistically end rough sleeping while so many households remain in temporary accommodation and thousands are waiting for social housing? I met Katie in Manchester’s Northern Quarter. She had no possessions. She's pregnant, diabetic, in need of something warm to eat, and £5 to get to her grandma's house in Moston. After her boyfriend kicked her out of his car in Ashton, she’d spent the last few hours wandering around the centre without much luck. “People are so, so rude,” she told me. “Someone said he’d get money out of a cash machine for me, but when we got there, he just laughed and took photos of me.” What happens to people like Katie? An abusive boyfriend, no fixed abode and a child on the way. What happens to Katie’s child? Will they both be forced to put up with mistreatment and abuse from her boyfriend so they have a roof over their head, or live with Katie’s elderly grandma and a disabled uncle suffering from his third stroke? “Sometimes I’d think I’d rather be homeless than put up with this… at least I’d have some freedom.” The Prime Minister has time, but he also has other things to do. Everyone wants him to make good on his promise, but whether he will - whether he *can* \- is very much open to question.