Dear John

Yesterday, I set out what I see as the moral mission of the next Metro-mayor: to make homelessness history in the West Midlands.

Over the last three years I worked with homeless citizens, councillors, outreach groups and the whole host of homelessness campaign groups. And as a constituency MP, my team and I have helped hundreds with housing cases. This plan is based on what I've heard.

1. Cutting the £1 million costs of the Mayor’s ‘secret consultants’ and using the money to create an Emergency Fund to pay for round-the-clock support and shelter, guaranteeing that we have more beds than rough sleepers all year-round so that no-one need sleep homeless. These services will build on and expand the models pioneered by the Good Shepherd Ministry in Wolverhampton, Birmingham’s Sifa Fireside, Hope into Action Black Country and Hope Coventry.

2. Becoming Britain’s biggest council house builder with a goal of doubling the number of affordable homes built each year. As we mark the 100th anniversary of council housing, I say we need a Green Development Corporation to help councils radically expand the supply of council housing and social rent homes, with a goal of doubling the speed of affordable homes.

• Last year, just 1,482 affordable homes were built in our region. Our goal is to add at least 1,500 homes on top of this each year. This will allow us to halve the current 35 years it is likely to take to offer a home to all the 51,870 people on council waiting lists in our region.

• Wherever possible, these will be green council houses - with solar panels, household batteries and EV charge points, almost eliminating energy bills, and safeguarding against fuel poverty.

• Accommodation supply for women escaping domestic violence will also be immediately expanded, building on the work of some Labour councils already doing this.

3. Vastly improve mental health and addiction services and benefits advice, by creating a 10-year fund for Councils and the third sector to finance wrap-around health, mental health and addiction services and benefits advice, delivered where necessary via Street Teams, and harnessing the expertise of those with lived experience of homelessness.

4. Create a region-wide private landlord licensing scheme to crack down on unfair practice and exploitation.

Already some cities like Liverpool are pursuing region-wide private sector landlord licensing schemes to crack down on dodgy landlords. We should follow suite, with a goal of raising all home to a healthy homes standard set by the Town and Country Planning Association.

5. Negotiate a ‘duty to collaborate to prevent homelessness’ on all public agencies, including the DWP, Prison Service and hospitals, to prevent homelessness occurring in the first place.

I have been working closely with people on the ground who truly understand how we can crack this tragedy.

Their backing means I can feel confident that we can end homelessness in our region.

Nobby Clarke, Coventry Winter Night Shelter founder & Coventry Emergency Shelter Project Leader, said:

“Liam Byrne is the first senior politician to convince me that they have a grasp of the problems faced by the vulnerable and the homeless, as well as a realistic understanding of the necessary strategy needed to reduce the impact of poverty and promote a hopeful recovery in our community. ”

Cllr Sharon Thompson, Cabinet Member for Homes and Neighbourhoods, Birmingham City Council, said:

“Liam's passion, drive and work ethic, his inspiring work on homelessness and his ambitious strategy for the West Midlands means that he is a candidate who can fight and win the Mayorality for Labour. He's got my full support.”

Matthieu Lambert, CEO of Hope Into Action Black Country said:

“I am seeking to make homelessness history. If elected, I believe Liam Byrne will have the humility and wisdom to involve and listen to people at a grassroots level in shaping policy and making real difference.”

Cllr John Cotton, Chair of Labour Housing Association said:

"Liam is right: homelessness is a moral emergency - so what we need is a Labour Metro-Mayor with both the personal passion to end it and the deep commitment to back up Labour councils on the frontline. Liam has both and that’s why I’m supporting him."

It is simply not acceptable that we have people dying on our streets in one of the richest countries on Earth. Our moral mission must be to make homelessness history. If I am elected that is exactly what I will do.

Join my campaign by clicking here. Read our homelessness manifesto here, watch the video below and click here to share it on Twitter!

Best wishes

Liam Byrne MP

Further information can be found here

Background to Mr Street’s secret consultants can be found here: https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/midlands-news/secrecy-row-mayors-authority-pays-15718764

Rough sleeping has more than tripled between 2010 and 2018 - with a rise of nine-fold in Birmingham and a six-fold rise in Sandwell.

The number of West Midlands homeless children in temporary accommodation has almost tripled since the start of 2013; in Coventry, it’s risen nearly seven-fold. Children now make up over one quarter (27%) of those in temporary accommodation across the West Midlands.

Over-crowding is at crisis levels - higher in the Black Country and Birmingham than in either Greater Manchester and England as a whole.

Rents in the West Midlands are rising faster than anywhere else - up 35% in Birmingham compared to 19% across England.

The safety net of services, which once stopped vulnerable people becoming homeless - and helped the homeless back on their feet - has been cut to shreds.

• The region’s number of mental health cases is rising four times faster than funding.
• A quarter of the region’s residents live in areas where mental health spending is being cut.
• Drug and alcohol addiction services have been cut by over £5 million across the region - an incredible 12% reduction.