Finland-inspired scheme has changed lives in Greater Manchester – so we’re making it our new philosophy to end the housing crisis, says Andy Burnham

Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham has today (Tuesday 10 September) set out his plans to follow Finland and turn a pioneering homelessness pilot into a guiding philosophy to end the housing crisis.

The Mayor addressed a conference of housing and homelessness policy experts in Manchester, including a delegation from Finland, where Housing First was adopted as a national philosophy and resulted in major reductions in homelessness across the country.

He explained how Greater Manchester will learn the lessons of the pilot scheme and set up a Housing First Unit to drive forward the mission of ending the housing crisis – because good health, good education, and good jobs cannot come without a good, permanent home.

The cross-sector Housing First Unit at the Greater Manchester Combined Authority will have three key priorities:

• Supply – Ensuring that Greater Manchester builds the new homes that our city-region needs, including affordable homes and single-occupancy accommodation. With the right support, Greater Manchester is ready to deliver 75,000 new homes in the current parliament.
• Standards – Protecting renters and taking action against bad housing with the UK’s first Good Landlord Charter, and empowering residents to request a Property Check followed up by enforcement action where necessary.
• Support – With more devolved powers and funding, Greater Manchester can transform the way we support residents with proper health and wellbeing services, and help people get back into work.

The Housing First pilot recognises that a good home has to be the first step to a good life. The scheme helps people with chronic and long-standing experiences of homelessness into homes of their own without preconditions, and offers personalised, ongoing wraparound support to manage issues ranging from mental health problems to substance misuse.

Greater Manchester’s pilot scheme was rolled out in 2019, and since then has helped 413 people find good, safe homes. Around 75 per cent have sustained their tenancies, with some going on to form part of Housing First’s co-production panel – sharing their experiences and ensuring that the service continues to meet people’s needs. Greater Manchester is now calling for these lessons to be embedded into a new national approach to tackling the housing crisis.

The conference comes as new research from the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) shows that local councils spend at least around £75 million on renting Temporary Accommodation to house people every year. This does not include costs for support staff or other services – meaning the true cost is much higher.

Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, said:

“Following the second report from the Grenfell Inquiry, it is abundantly clear that a sea change is needed in the way Britain thinks about housing.

“Rather than a money-making opportunity, or just a commodity to be bought and sold, we need to see housing as an essential service. Giving everyone a good, safe home would be one of the best investments the country could make, and would take pressure off other public services and public finances. We are ready to pilot this approach in Greater Manchester and become the first UK city-region to adopt a Finnish-style Housing First philosophy.

“The evidence is clear that it works, and when a pilot scheme gets results it shouldn’t end there – it should become the new normal. Housing First has shown that if you give people an unconditional right to safe and secure housing, backed up with personalised support, you set them up to succeed.

“Instead of winding it down, we should be scaling it up and turning it into a national mission – and we’re starting that here in Greater Manchester. We’re bringing in new protections for renters, tackling bad landlords, and with the right powers and funding we can deliver 75,000 new homes in this parliament.

“Our new Housing First Unit will drive this work forward, bringing together partners across our city-region with a clear goal: a healthy home for everyone in Greater Manchester by 2038.

“The growing cost of not solving the housing crisis – both on our communities and on the public purse – is plain to see.”

Jukka Siukosaari, Ambassador of Finland to the United Kingdom, said:

“Finland launched its own Housing First model in 2007, and since then long-term homelessness in the country has fallen significantly, by almost 70 per cent.

“Our nation has succeeded in going against the trend by actually decreasing the number of people without a place to live. This result is a proof of the importance of the home as a starting point when we help people rebuild their lives.

“The Embassy of Finland is delighted to co-organize this event together with the Greater Manchester Combined Authority. I am happy to be able to share some lessons we have learned in Finland about finding solutions to homelessness, an issue that countries in Europe and all over the world are working to solve.”

Paul Dennett, Deputy Mayor of Greater Manchester, said:

“We’ve seen the effects of the housing crisis, putting unsustainable pressure on residents, families, communities and local authorities for many years. The human cost of the housing crisis is profound, but so too is the financial impact on already stretched council budgets. Over more than a decade the pressure has been piled on, from austerity and local government cuts, to welfare reform and restrictions placed on Local Housing Allowance, and the ongoing challenges posed by no-fault evictions. That’s all before you reckon with the 24,000 homes in Greater Manchester lost to Right to Buy in the last 20 years,

“The work we’ve done to better understand Temporary Accommodation in Greater Manchester has given us a window onto just one part of that crisis – finding an eye-watering £75 million spent on rents alone when councils are discharging their duties under the Homelessness Reduction Act.

“Local authorities are only able to recoup around 40 per cent of these costs from national government, exposing them to accelerating and unpredictable cost pressures. When you factor in the wider costs that this places on public services like homelessness teams, health, social care and education, this cost is truly staggering!

“We urgently need to accelerate the supply of genuinely affordable, council and social housing in Greater Manchester. With government backing, we can achieve our mission to put housing first in Greater Manchester, and ensure a healthy home for everyone by 2038. But there is also a lot we can do here and now to alleviate the effects of the housing crisis, through preventing homelessness before it happens.”

Greater Manchester has adopted a bold Homelessness Prevention Strategy, which recognises the importance of:

• Having access to a safe, decent, accessible and affordable home;
• Ensuring that when someone leaves a place of care they’re able to access a place of safety;
• Ensuring that we’re providing quality advice, advocacy and support in our collective endeavour to prevent homelessness;
• Ensuring that people experiencing homelessness have respite, recovery, and reconnection support;
• Ensuring that homelessness is never an entrenched experience.

Local authorities are committed to supporting people at risk of homelessness, despite significant financial pressures. The city-region is also working to identify people at risk of homelessness at the earliest opportunity and ensure they receive the support they need.