A contract tender worth more than £700,000 has been issued by the Greater Manchester Combined Authority for a programme designed to help refugees access housing, welfare and local services once they are granted asylum.
Safe Transitions: what the programme offers
The initiative, known as “Safe Transitions”, is run by the GMCA and aims to reduce the barriers faced by people with refugee status who are navigating life in Greater Manchester. Officials say the programme is specifically designed to address the acute risk of homelessness among newly recognised refugees. Individuals granted refugee status currently have only 42 days to leave Home Office accommodation and secure alternative housing. This tight window, combined with limited knowledge of UK systems, financial constraints, and difficulties accessing the private rented sector, leaves many destitute. The GMCA notes that people with asylum backgrounds are disproportionately represented in homelessness and rough sleeping services.
The programme comprises two main strands. The first is a New Community Guidance Project, with an estimated total contract value of £307,691.66, running from October 1, 2026, to March 31, 2029. It focuses on developing accessible, multilingual written and multimedia resources covering rights, entitlements, healthcare, housing, public services and daily life in Greater Manchester. The project also involves delivering information briefings and working with partner organisations to strengthen support pathways, with the stated goals of preventing homelessness, reducing pressure on public services, and supporting independence and inclusion.
The second strand is a Refugee Lodging Scheme, for which the GMCA intends to procure the next phase at an initial contract value of £77,270, with potential extensions. This scheme matches refugees with “resident landlords” for temporary lodging and provides wraparound support to help them access housing, benefits, employment, education and healthcare. It also includes recruiting and supporting the landlords themselves. The combined value of the two projects is estimated at over £700,000 – roughly £370,000 for the guidance framework and £350,000 for the lodging scheme.
Mayor Andy Burnham’s role and the political backlash
The GMCA is led by Mayor Andy Burnham, who is also the Labour candidate in the upcoming Makerfield by-election. Critics have seized on the contract tenders. Reform UK leader Nigel Farage attacked the scheme, claiming it proves “Andy Burnham is for them, not for you” and alleging it will provide housing and benefits to people who entered the UK “illegally”. Farage also shared an AI-generated image of refugees on a boat with the slogan “Vote Andy For Us”. Mr Burnham dismissed Farage’s comments as “desperate stuff”.
The controversy has been amplified online by a separate piece of misinformation: a fake image circulating on social media claims Mr Burnham said he would “make Makerfield home for more asylum seekers”. The image contains a SynthID watermark, indicating it was created or edited using AI tools, and shows distortions such as a misshapen left hand and misaligned teeth on Mr Burnham. There are no credible reports of the mayor making such a statement.
In a further misleading post, a video falsely described as a “city council members’ meeting” actually shows a Gujarati community event, with a large group of men seated at long tables eating.
Broader homelessness strategy and the wider context
The GMCA insists the Safe Transitions programme is part of a wider £40-million-a-year homelessness strategy that covers veterans, young people, former prisoners and domestic abuse survivors, as well as refugees and asylum seekers. Officials argue that the programme is designed to prevent homelessness and reduce long-term costs to public services, and that transitional support is essential given the limited time refugees have to find housing after receiving asylum decisions.
Greater Manchester currently houses more than 8,500 people seeking asylum in Home Office accommodation, including hotels and temporary lodgings, as of June 2025. The GMCA has described the existing asylum accommodation and support model as dysfunctional, leading to increased homelessness and affecting social cohesion. It says local authorities lack dedicated funding to manage these impacts and support integration.
Several organisations are already involved in related work. The Boaz Trust has received GMCA funding for initiatives such as the Refugee Homelessness Prevention Project, which works with individuals recently granted refugee status who are at risk of or experiencing homelessness, primarily through the private rented sector. Refugee Action, also funded by the GMCA, is conducting briefing sessions in asylum hotels to provide information on the move-on process. The homeless day centre Mustard Tree runs a Welcome Hub for refugees facing homelessness, offering support with accessing the private rented sector. The Greater Manchester Immigration Aid Unit provides immigration legal advice and representation, as well as housing and homelessness advice. The GMIAU has noted that while these initiatives are important, they cannot fully address the scale of the crisis, which requires wider reform of the asylum accommodation system.
Mr Burnham has previously advocated for an end to the “no recourse to public funds” policy, which prevents non-UK nationals from accessing benefits or public housing before obtaining settled status, describing it as a significant driver of homelessness. In the context of the Makerfield by-election, however, he has moderated his stance, stating that while he believes in “control as well as compassion”, he supports “root and branch reform” of the immigration system and has backed controversial changes proposed by Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood. Reports indicate that if he were to become Prime Minister, he would end the use of private companies for sourcing asylum seeker accommodation.
