Andy Burnham will today double the funding for tackling homelessness , despite warnings his previous attempts to end the problem have failed. The Prime Minister will confirm a further £432million in cash as he hosts a 'rough sleeping summit' in Downing Street aimed at delivering on his pledge to offer a 'safe route off the streets' by Christmas . Ending homelessness was the new PM's first pledge in office. But critics have pointed to his mixed record on the issue as mayor of Greater Manchester.
In 2017, Mr Burnham pledged to end rough sleeping in the region by 2020. But after initial falls, homeless numbers began to rise again during his tenure in the job. A study by the Centre for Social Justice this year found that homelessness is increasingly fuelled by immigration, with foreign nationals accounting for half of those sleeping rough in London . Pictures yesterday appeared to show a group of Eastern Europeans sleeping rough on Oxford Street, the day before the capital's premier shopping destination is pedestrianised as part of efforts to rejuvenate the area.
Homeless people have taken to sleeping rough in doorways and under arches along London's Oxford Street Mr Burnham last night said 'every part of society' has a duty to tackle rough sleeping. 'Rough sleeping isn't a fact of life. It's a thing governments either choose to accept or don't,' he said. 'Well, I don't accept it. That's why we're doubling funding so that people aren't just offered a safe route off the streets this winter but have that same support right through the rest of this Parliament too.'
But shadow communities secretary Katie Lam accused the PM of squandering taxpayers' money on 'empty promises'. 'Burnham is throwing another £432 million at a problem he failed to solve in Greater Manchester,' she said. 'Under Labour, rough sleeping has hit record highs - yet their answer is always more taxpayers' money and more empty promises.' READ MORE: Burnham 'betrays British workers and jobless youngsters' by raising the spectre of free movement with the EU
The Daily Mail reports Andy Burnham's £432 million rough sleeping announcement, then in its own voice labels people in photographs as Eastern Europeans, straight after a claim that immigration fuels homelessness, though its own caption calls them only homeless people. Its headline also presents an opposition attack as unattributed 'warnings' that his past efforts failed.
Vilifies a community
Serious
“Pictures yesterday appeared to show a group of Eastern Europeans sleeping rough on Oxford Street”
Why this matters
The Mail, in its own voice, labels people in photographs as 'Eastern Europeans' on the basis of what pictures 'appeared to show', and places them straight after a claim that homelessness is fuelled by immigration.
The impression it gives
A reader believes Eastern European migrants are visibly behind London's rough sleeping and are the problem Burnham's money is meant to address.
The context
The article gives no basis for how anyone's nationality was read from a photograph, and its own caption describes the same scene only as 'Homeless people'. Nothing in the funding announcement, as the Mirror reported it, concerns migrants at all. The Mail picks out one nationality among rough sleepers and frames that group as a burden.
How we know
Elsewhere in the article“Homeless people have taken to sleeping rough in doorways”
Pictures yesterday showed people sleeping rough in doorways along Oxford Street, the day before the street is pedestrianised.
Headline goes beyond the article
Minor
“despite warnings previous attempts have failed”
Why this matters
The headline presents 'warnings' that Burnham's past efforts 'have failed' without saying who gave them.
The impression it gives
A reader believes independent experts have judged his Greater Manchester record a failure.
The context
The body calls it a 'mixed record' with 'initial falls', and the only person in the article who says he failed is the Conservative shadow communities secretary, Katie Lam.
How we know
Elsewhere in the article“critics have pointed to his mixed record”
Elsewhere in the article“a problem he failed to solve in Greater Manchester”