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Burnham launches homelessness fund after election win
The new mayor of Greater Manchester has launched a homelessness fund, donating 15% of his salary to kick-start the fundraising.
Andy Burnham won the mayoral vote last Friday, with 63% of the vote on a turnout of 28.9%.
One of his first actions as mayor was to pledge to donate 15% of his £110,000 salary to ending rough sleeping in the city by 2020.
He has now launched the Greater Manchester Mayor’s Homelessness Fund with £1,375 of his own money. The fund will be managed by homelessness charity Crisis.
The fund will support frontline projects which offer specialised supported housing for young people, providing access to education, volunteering and possible employment.
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It will also support projects that expand mental health and rehabilitation services and bring empty properties back into use for people threatened with homelessness.
The distribution of the fund will be decided by its trustees, who include homelessness experts. It will operate as a community foundation – an independent charity that gives funds to local organisations through a grant process.
Inside Housing has recently launched a general election campaign to end rough sleeping by 2022 and halve it by 2020. Labour, the Liberal Democrats and Plaid Cymru have all signed up to the campaign but so far the Conservatives and the Scottish National Party have refused.
