London homeless centre visited by the new PM says they are hopeful he will help end rough sleeping
New Prime Minister Andy Burnham has promised to end homelessness in the UK in his first speech.
A London homelessness centre visited by the new Prime Minister before he visited the King say they are welcoming his announcement to prioritise ending homelessness across the UK.
Burnham visited The Passage at St Vincent's Centre in Victoria at around 6am yesterday before officially taking over from Sir Kier Starmer as Prime Minister.
The Centre's Chief Executive Mick Clarke told us it was a welcomed surprise.
"It was great to show him around the work that we do. The passage is all about ending homelessness.
"We do that by helping people who are already on the streets, off the streets, into accommodation, but also a lot of prevention work".
Mick told us the visit helped highlight that the new PM is taking the issue of homelessness seriously.
"I think it's really quite telling that on the day that he was about to become Prime Minister, the very first thing that he did around about 6.30 in the morning was to choose to come to the passage, firstly to go out onto the street to see the realities of poverty first hand, then to meet with people who've had lived experience but are now off the streets and in their own accommodation.
"I think my reaction would be that speaks volumes about who he is as a person, where his values are and what drives him. So we're thrilled that actually he wants to have a focus on ending homelessness".
Speaking about the pledge to end homelessness, Mick told us that, whilst it will be a difficult job, he is hopeful it can be achieved.
"When you look at the challenge on a national scale, that's really hard. That's going to involve everybody pulling together, working together, and really looking at systems change as well, looking at how government departments can work better together, because homelessness isn't just a housing issue. It's linked with health, and everything else".
"We saw what happened when there was real leadership in terms of tackling this issue. And of course, something that the Prime Minister highlighted today, we saw what can be done in the pandemic when we reframed homelessness away from just a housing issue to a public health emergency and the everyone in initiative got so many people off the streets".
Finally, Mick said that whilst ending homelessness will not be an easy task, his meeting with the new PM has given him hope for the future.
"One of the most moving comments that the Prime Minister made was around, and I think he referenced it in his speech at number 10, was putting care back at the centre of our nation.
"I think sometimes, particularly when you're talking about the large numbers that we sometimes talk to about in homelessness, it can be easy to think in terms of numbers as opposed to people and we've got to start putting people back at the centre of this rather than just thinking about that they're faceless and the numbers.
"So that was encouraging to hear".