Mayor of Greater Manchester helps Salford’s homeless

Andy Burnham, Mayor of Greater Manchester, visited Salford charity, Caritas Diocese, today in hopes of tackling homelessness in the city.

The event held at the centre allowed Andy Burnham and clients at the centre to discuss issues surrounding homelessness in Salford and Greater Manchester.

Lawrence Bettany, Service Manager at Caritas Diocese, said: “He has created a lot of political will and quite a lot of momentum on the issue, and that can only be seen as a positive thing.”

“I know homelessness has got worse in the last ten years across Manchester and Salford, since these interventions are underway that Andy has put in place, I guess only time will tell how effective they will be.”

Caritas Diocese of Salford is a volunteer-led charity that works to provide help to children, families and vulnerable adults.

Caritas vision is that the lives of all people should be free from poverty, disadvantage and discrimination.

“The reality for us on the ground, is that we often don’t see the benefits  so I think we need to see more work to link with established organisations like us, to see how we can be resourced better.”

Mr Burnham said when he was elected in 2017, that he aims to end homelessness in Greater Manchester by 2020.

Andy Burnham said to the GMCA: “Money will provide accommodation, intensive health support and improvements for the way homeless people are encouraged into education and work for up to 200 people.”

In October 2017 the city received a £1.8 million investment, which would enable Manchester to take immediate action.

The Mayor of Greater Manchester has visited organisations who have helped those who are rough sleeping in the city.

These include Riverside Group, Mustard Tree, Booth Centre, Cornerstone and Caritas Diocese of Salford.

Mr Bettany, said: “I would say to anyone who wants to support, to support the local organisations out there, whether that’s financially or with practical things.”

Today Andy is visiting vital organisations helping our city-region’s coordinated and sustained efforts to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping.

These include @RiversideUK @MustardTreeMCR @BoothCentre @SalfordDiocese and @CornerstoneCds.

Updates on here throughout the day. pic.twitter.com/JVXErOsvDO

— Mayor Andy Burnham (@MayorofGM) March 13, 2018