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.”