Overview
- Greater Manchester Combined Authority has allocated just over £700,000 to its Safer/Safe Transitions work, part of an annual £40 million homelessness commissioning programme.
- The funded measures include community guidance and a Refugee Lodging Scheme that help people granted asylum find housing and access benefits and local services.
- Nigel Farage posted claims on X on Sunday alleging the schemes aid illegal migrants, and Andy Burnham replied, calling Farage 'desperate', which escalated the story into a high-profile social media row.
- Conservative figures have criticised the spending as taxpayer support for migrants while the GMCA and homelessness charities say the interventions are preventative and save public money by avoiding costly temporary accommodation.
- Greater Manchester faces acute homelessness and asylum housing pressures, and allies of Burnham have suggested shifting asylum accommodation responsibility away from Home Office contracts to local authorities if he gained national office.