MAYORAL candidate Andy Burnham will tell a meeting in Bolton today that he plans to end rough-sleeping in Greater Manchester by 2020.

The Labour hopeful for the inaugural Greater Manchester Mayor role will be at Bolton Town Hall today, outlining his plans to build a ‘safe, diverse and inclusive’ city region.

And he will announce a new ‘action network’ on homelessness, which will be established immediately.

He will blame the government for the soaring numbers of children being forced to live in Bed and Breakfasts in Bolton and other parts of Greater Manchester.

New data from the Department of Communities and Local Government show that by September 2016, 1,600 children (39 in Bolton) were living in temporary accommodation in Greater Manchester - more than double the number two years earlier.

At the event, the Leigh MP will confirm the appointment of Bury South MP and former Minister Ivan Lewis and Manchester City Councillor Beth Knowles, chair of the international arts and homelessness movement With One Voice, as co-chairs of the Mayor’s Homelessness Action Network.

They will be asked to make a ‘radical plan’ that ends rough-sleeping by the end of his potential first term as Mayor in 2020.

It will be developed in partnership with third sector organisations, statutory agencies, businesses and those with a personal experience of rough-sleeping and homelessness.

Earlier this month, Mr Burnham committed to donating 15 per cent of his mayoral salary to begin a new homelessness fund and will encourage other individuals and organisations across Greater Manchester to also make donations. 

His Bolton event runs from 10am until 1pm, and he is expected to say: "Nobody should be without a roof over their heads and a secure place to call home - least of all children.

These figures must shock the Government out of its complacency. 

“We cannot end homelessness overnight but as Mayor I want to bring together churches, companies and voluntary groups to build a new partnership.

"This action network marks the start of that new approach and my personal ambition to end rough-sleeping here by the end of the decade. 

"What we can seeing on our streets is the human cost of cuts to benefits, mental health, drug and alcohol services and a range of council social care services. We need to help people break out of extremely difficult circumstances and turn their lives around. 

"Greater Manchester can do things differently, we don’t have to accept large numbers of people sleeping rough on our streets.  Let's make a commitment as a city region that we're going to end this.

"I want to be Mayor of a Greater Manchester that's a beacon of social justice to the rest of the country."