AUTHORITIES will spend £6m next year to provide a place to sleep for all those living on the street.

Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham has revealed he plans to scale up public involvement in the ‘A Bed Every Night’ scheme, which launched last year.

The project, which includes £2m of investment from the NHS, will aim to offer 400 beds each night - an increase of 100 from the previous year.

This will be provided by a range of public and voluntary groups and will include more women-only spaces, more options to house people with dogs and more involvement from health services.

Since its launch in November 2018, A Bed Every Night has provided a space for more than 2,000 people, with 680 then moved to permanent accommodation.

Dr Tom Tasker, co-chair of the Greater Manchester Joint Commissioning Team, is a GP who will be heavily involved in the scheme.

He pointed to the health problems which can cause someone to turn to rough sleeping and can then be magnified by living on the street.

“Rough sleeping is a dangerous and isolating experience”, Dr Tasker said. “As a GP, we see that there is a considerable impact on a person’s physical and mental health caused by homelessness and rough sleeping. In many cases, people experiencing homelessness are already facing multiple complexities, which are compounded further by spending even one night sleeping on the street.”

A Bed Every Night Phase 2 will be launched on Tuesday, October 1.