When Andy Burnham made ending rough sleeping his first pledge as Prime Minister the news was met with an understandable amount of cynicism by those who work tirelessly to keep people off the streets.

Part of that is a sad reflection of the mistrust many people now have of our elected politicians and the success rates of their many pledges, but much of it comes from seeing first-hand the impact of both national and local public sector cuts on the ability to tackle this country’s growing housing and homelessness crisis.

But I see it differently.

Whilst it’s too early to gauge the success or otherwise of our new Prime Minister, he does at least have a track record in this area, having been part of a campaign that helped to reduce rough sleeping and homelessness in Greater Manchester, during his time as Mayor.

He’s even pledged to donate 15% of his salary to homeless charities, a good example of putting your money where your mouth is and I see no reason to regard this as anything other than a genuine pledge, rather than a tactic to make himself look kind and caring.

However, beyond the promised £442m of funding, there’s another reason why I was delighted to see him put the........

© Norwich Evening News