CAMPAIGNERS have welcomed Andy Burnham’s promise to “get everyone in for Christmas” as part of plans to end rough sleeping, but urged the Prime Minister to also act on his social housing promises.

The pledge echoes the pandemic-era Everyone In scheme, coming after official figures showed 4,793 people slept rough on a single night in autumn 2025 in England — a record high and the fourth consecutive annual increase.

Newer London data showed a 10 per cent year-on-year drop in the capital.

Mr Burnham has announced £102 million in additional funding, alongside £340m announced last month, to support long-term rough sleepers into settled accommodation.

He said: “No-one should have to bed down in a doorway or outside a station.

“But we’ve seen it for so long that it feels like Westminster has started to accept it. I won’t accept it.”

The government said areas facing the greatest homelessness pressures will get the largest share of the support and local areas will be encouraged to “consider single-sex accommodation with specialist, intensive and trauma-informed support, for victims of domestic abuse and sexual violence.”

Writing in The Guardian, Mr Burnham said: “Ending rough sleeping has to be something we all take responsibility for.

“It’s our job to catch people long before they hit the pavement, and that means dealing with the multitude of reasons why someone might be sleeping rough in the first place.”

Housing Secretary Angela Rayner said the funding will “help thousands of people leave the streets behind, move into secure homes and get the support they need to rebuild their lives.”

Shelter chief executive Sarah Elliott said the PM’s Christmas pledge “is a game-changing move,” but added: “Tackling the most visible form of homelessness is a strong start, but the almost 178,000 children hidden away in grim temporary accommodation also need somewhere to call home.

“The Prime Minister must apply the same unwavering ambition to delivering the council housing revolution he promised.”

Lord John Bird, the cross-bench peer and co-founder of the Big Issue, also welcomed the announcement, but said it was important that “people are not just brought in from the cold for a few weeks, only to be sent back out again.”

Crisis chief executive Matt Downie said the announcement “puts us on the path to an historic milestone: the end of rough sleeping in England.”