Crompton Liberal Democrat Councillor Diane Williamson will be proposing a motion to the next full meeting of Oldham Council (13 September) calling for Oldham Council to take action to help end rough sleeping and homelessness.

Official figures show that over 4,000 people in England are sleeping rough on any one night and that over a quarter of a million people are in some form of homelessness. The figures for sleeping rough have increased by fifty percent in the last two years alone.

Councillor Williamson said: “It is a national disgrace that in a modern industrial economy and Britain is one of the world’s leading economies, rough sleeping and homelessness can exist in the twenty first century.”

Official figures also show that Greater Manchester is a city region with the fourth highest levels of homelessness.

“At full Council, I will be hoping for cross-party support to commit Oldham to do its bit to make rough sleeping and homelessness a thing of the past. We would like a report on the current situation in our borough and what is being doing, and can be done, to improve it.”

Councillor Williamson added: “The Oldham Liberal Democrats also endorse the campaign launched recently by the new Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham to tackle this issue head on as an urgent priority for all ten local authorities and partner organisations in our city region.”

Unfortunately a recent report for the homelessness charity Crisis has identified that rough sleeping and homelessness may rise by three quarters over the next decade.

In response, Councillor Williamson said: “This is why it is important that we also tackle this issue at a national level. Changes to housing benefit entitlement and delays in payments, wages not rising sufficiently to meet spiralling private sector rents, and the lack of affordable housing for rent has exacerbated this situation, and much of the blame must be placed at the feet of Conservative ministers who are so unconcerned because they are so out-of-touch with the day-to-day reality of those affected. We support the End Rough Sleeping Campaign, and call on our fellow Councillors and local Members of Parliament to also endorse this.”

The Council motion reads:

This Council notes:

The national scandal of homelessness, with official figures showing over 4,000 people sleeping rough on any one night, in England last year and over 250,000 people in some form of homelessness.

That figures for sleeping rough have increased by nearly 50% in the last two years.

That Greater Manchester has a particular homelessness problem, with Manchester having the fourth highest rates of rough sleeping in the country.

The charities, Crisis, Centrepoint, Homeless Link, Shelter and St Mungo’s have launched the End Rough Sleeping Campaign to call upon politicians of all parties to make a commitment to end rough sleeping and homelessness.

Working with our social housing and voluntary sector partners, Council reaffirms its commitment to ending rough sleeping and homelessness.

Council resolves to:

Adopt as policy the aspirations outlined in the End Rough Sleeping Campaign that in this borough:

• no one is sleeping rough

• no one is living in shelters, hostels or other emergency accommodation without a plan to move into suitable and settled housing within an agreed appropriate timescale

• no one is homeless as a result of leaving the care system, prison or other state institution

• everyone at immediate risk of homelessness gets the help they need to prevents it happening.

Ask the Chief Executive to write to the charities involved with the End Rough Sleeping Campaign to give the campaign this Council’s support and to ask the campaign to register the Council as a supporter.

Ask the Chief Executive to write to our three Members of Parliament, urging them to support action at a Government level, including:

• Adequately funding local government and local health services enable them to properly undertake their duties to tackle homelessness and causes of homelessness

• Ensuring that the benefits system is contributing to stopping homelessness, not causing it

• Addressing issues in housing provision, including providing for longer and more stable private rental period

• Support measures to tackle homelessness at a Greater Manchester level, including:

• Supporting the Homelessness Action Network created by the Greater Manchester Mayor

• Working together as ten boroughs, and using our devolved powers to collectively bring an end to homelessness as an urgent priority.

• Ensuring that a revised Greater Manchester Spatial Framework, and the Oldham Local Plan, has appropriate and affordable housing as a core priority

• Ensure that Oldham Council, and our social housing and voluntary sector partners, are doing everything we can to contribute to ending homelessness by asking the Leader to bring a report to Council outlining how our local services are working to end homelessness in the Borough.