Express & Star

Emma Reynolds: Mayor Andy Street must improve record on rough sleeping

Andy Street has been urged to improve his record on rough sleeping after the West Midlands saw a huge spike in the number of people bedding down on its streets.

Published
Concerns were raised for homeless people forced to live in this tented village off Stafford Road

Labour MP Emma Reynolds questioned the Conservative West Midlands Mayor's record on the issue, accusing him of failing to match the standards set by Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham.

Official figures released last week showed there were 420 people sleeping on streets of the West Midlands on one night in November 2018, up 42 per cent on the previous year.

Meanwhile Greater Manchester found 241 people on the street, down from 268 the previous year, a fall of 10 per cent.

It comes as concerns were highlighted by the tented village off Stafford Road, in Wolverhampton.

Thousands of cars pass the camp of tents pitched up among trees and undergrowth.

The Express & Star highlighted the issue last month in a bid to bring awareness as outreach workers came forward to offer support.

Wolverhampton North East MP Ms Reynolds said: “Across the West Midlands, rough sleeping is up by over a third.

“Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham has made tackling homelessness his number one priority and rough sleeping has fallen. Unfortunately, the actions taken by West Midlands Mayor Andy Street haven’t had the same impact with the number of people rough sleeping increasing."

Both Mr Street and Mr Burnham have made tackling rough sleeping manifesto pledges of their terms of office, with the Greater Manchester Mayor transferring £1,375 – 15 per cent of his salary – each month to the cause.

Both regions are involved in the pilot of Housing First, which will see local authorities provide free housing for rough sleepers in a bid to address their long term issues.

The Government figures also showed an increase in the number of homeless deaths over 12 months.

In the UK nearly 600 homeless people died on the streets of the UK over 2017 – up by a quarter compared to the previous year.

Ms Reynolds called on the Government to provide extra funding to help to get people off the streets

Wolverhampton North East MP Emma Reynolds

"Every homeless death is a tragedy and every single one is avoidable," she said.

“The Government has committed to ending rough sleeping by 2027 and it needs to recognise the role that local authorities play.

"It is no good setting targets but not following through with proper funding for authorities to deliver. Austerity has stripped the support services for addiction and mental health to the bone, and local authorities cannot provide the same level of services they could ten years ago.

“If the Government wants to meet their own target, and get people off our streets and into secure accommodation, they need to follow up with funding.

"Across the UK 4,677 people across the country will be sleeping on the streets tonight. That is 4,677 too many.”

Mr Street said the figures were "deeply concerning" for the region, but insisted that measures were in place to reduce on the number of rough sleepers.

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