By Abu Ali, Corporate Finance Partner at FRP
And Andy Burnham is determined to end rough sleeping.
The good news? As he demonstrated in Manchester, it isn’t some pipe dream. We can do it – but this can’t be on one man.
If we seriously want to fix what’s a national disgrace, the new PM needs society to pull together.
And leading that charge must be the business community.
As Chairman of CEO Sleepout, my focus has been on reawakening the business community to the problem at hand.
Record homelessness levels. Children waking each day without a guaranteed roof over their head that night.
Poverty that has somehow become an accepted part of modern life.
The new PM gets it, but unless the business community does too, his already colossal task becomes that bit harder.
Yes, times are tight. In business and at home.
We all feel the pinch a bit more than we did, say, a decade ago.
But relatively speaking, we are privileged.
Margins might be tighter, but few of us worry when our children will next eat.
So, we need to do more – and even if it doesn’t feel like it, we remain the change makers.
That means we need to empty pockets – and open our hearts.
In the North East, that can start on November 12 when we stage our annual Sunderland CEO Sleepout at the Stadium of Light.
Exactly a week later, we will be at Darlington’s Mowden Park. Nationally, our goal is to raise £1m this year.
That won’t happen without leaders doing just that – setting an example, stepping up, and being the change makers that they are.
Is the sleepout easy? No. But changing lives rarely is.
And while the PM is doing his bit, it is time for us all to do ours.
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