Andy Burnham's approach to housing could put him on a collision course with Donald Trump

Andy Burnham has promised the biggest council house building programme since the post-war period as tackling the housing crisis looks to be a central part of his plans as prime minister.

The favourite to take over at 10 Downing Street following Keir Starmer’s resignation, Burnham laid out his economic vision at a speech at the People’s History Museum in Manchester on Monday (29 June) morning.

The Makerfield MP and former Greater Manchester mayor pledged to ramp up council housebuilding and put giving everyone a good home at the “top of the country’s priority list”.

Burnham also pledged to emulate Finland’s world-leading approach to tackling homelessness by adopting a housing-first philosophy across the country.

“That’s what this new era is going to be all about: a sense of hope, of possibility, that things are achievable that you might not have thought were before,” said Burnham in his speech.

“And having this focus on council homes again and building them in all parts of the country is a decisive shift to a more preventative, productive state, adopting a national Housing First policy as has been pioneered so successfully in Finland.

“If you don’t give people a good home, what chance have they got of having a good life? What chance have you got of making the health service sustainable if people are not living in good accommodation or getting a good education for kids? Everything starts with a good home and this country finally has to put that at the top of its priority list.”

Here’s why Burnham’s approach to the housing crisis could be significant.

How Housing First plays into Burnham’s Britain

Similarly to Big Issue, Burnham has headed to Finland to find out how to tackle homelessness and has taken inspiration from the Scandinavians for his work in Greater Manchester.

Housing First is largely considered a model that sees rough sleepers given a home alongside support for as long as they need to help them keep their home.

In Finland, the philosophy is wider. It sees anyone facing homelessness offered a home as a default response.

That’s a philosophy Burnham wants to emulate, noting that people’s lives, and economic growth, cannot be improved without a stable home.

Housing First was a notable omission from Labour’s homelessness strategy when it was published at the end of last year.

The strategy said that not everyone will need the intensive approach of Housing First to escape homelessness. Instead, councils were urged to use the homelessness, rough sleeping and domestic abuse grant to produce a range of accommodation models.

That’s despite the relative success of government-backed Housing First pilots, including in Greater Manchester. An evaluation of the pilots, which have been running since 2018, found 92% of people housed through Housing First were living in long-term accommodation a year after being offered a place off the streets.

The success of the pilots has led to calls for Housing First to be expanded across England while some experts worried about the model’s future.

Burnham’s speech has restored optimism.

Matt Downie, chief executive of Crisis, said: “This was the speech of someone who understands a fundamental truth: a good, affordable home is the essential foundation we all need to build a life.

“We wholeheartedly welcome the prospect of a Housing First philosophy at the heart of government. It would be transformative with benefits for employment, health, and economic growth. That’s why it must, as Andy Burnham says, be at the top of the country’s priority list. 

“Words will need to turn into action, but from a housing and homelessness perspective this was one of the most hopeful speeches I’ve heard in many, many years.”

A report from the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) last year called for 5,571 Housing First places by 2029-30 ensuring every English region has a programme.

Burnham was among those who backed the research. He said: “The Labour government was elected on a promise to end sticking plaster solutions. Housing First is exactly that: a long-term, ambitious, and transformational policy that works to end homelessness for the vast majority of people supported by it.”

How Burnham’s council housing pledge would be a shift for a Labour

You can’t have housing first without having housing first.

The UK is in the grip of a housing crisis with extremely high levels of homelessness and record-high numbers of children growing up in temporary accommodation.

The current Labour government has set out an ambition to build 1.5 million homes ahead of the next general election in 2029.

Starmer’s premiership also saw more money awarded to build more social housing with £39bn pledged to an affordable homes programme over the next decade. 

But the current government opted not to set up a state-backed housing developer to build the 300,000 homes a year needed to hit the milestone, instead relying on private developers.

The rising costs of construction, worker shortages and global conflicts are among the factors that have seen housebuilding slump. In 2024-25, 199,300 homes were built in England, down from 221,070 the previous year.

It remains to be seen how Burnham intends to boost housebuilding – although he has backed plans to reduce Right to Buy powers and has spoken out against stamp duty. 

Green Party leader Zack Polanski said: “Burnham is right to talk about building council housing, but his record on affordable housing in Greater Manchester tells a different story. Under his watch, the developer-first model has continued, with luxury city-centre towers going up while genuinely affordable homes have failed to keep pace with need.

“Is Andy Burnham prepared to break with the economic model that has failed millions of people, or is he simply proposing to manage it from a different office?”

But Burnham has said that boosting housebuilding will be central to his approach to deliver the biggest council housing programme since the post-war period.

Sarah Elliott, chief executive of Shelter, said: “Andy Burnham is right on the money here. Any government that is serious about fixing life’s foundations must start by delivering a new generation of social rent homes and strengthening the arm of councils to get building. 

“Council-built social homes once provided a stable basis for millions of people across the country to get on in life and succeed. Politicians have ignored this fact for far too long, while people’s hope dwindled away and our supply of genuinely affordable social rent homes fell through the floor. 

“Delivering the biggest council house building programme since post-war period has the potential to utterly transform our country and restore the building blocks of people’s lives. To make this vision a reality, the government must set councils up to build by removing unsustainable debt and delivering a big boost to investment.”

Read more:

• Labour’s failure to commit to national Housing First expansion ‘risks thousands losing their home’
• Housing First promised to be a silver bullet to solve homelessness. Why are we still waiting? 
• Inside the unique project tackling homelessness as a community: ‘We should have one in every town’

But Burnham’s Housing First focus could put him at odds with Donald Trump

Donald Trump has so far only noted that Burnham is “the mayor of a town” and “extremely liberal”.

If he’s named prime minister, Burnham will have to work with the outspoken US president on foreign policy and as part of the UK and US’s ‘special relationship’.

Burnham’s approach to Housing First differs widely from Trump’s – the US president has spent much of his second term at the White House removing federal support for Housing First policies.

Instead, the Trump administration has advocated for a “treatment-first” model instead.

Trump signed executive orders last year to shift people from the streets into “long-term institutional settings for humane treatment” as well as “ending support for Housing First policies that deprioritise accountability and fail to promote treatment, recovery, and self-sufficiency”.

Burnham is taking the complete opposite approach. It raises questions of how Burnham will handle his relationship with Trump if he’s named prime minister.

Do you have a story to tell or opinions to share about this? Get in touch and tell us more. 

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