Manchester City Council is opening up empty buildings for rough sleepers to use overnight as part of a campaign to create more bed spaces across the city.

The former Hulme Library building and the former Beech Mount Children’s Home in Harpurhey are the first in a series of buildings to be opened as part of an ongoing campaign to improve services available for rough sleepers and homeless people in Manchester.

The new buildings, combined with other spaces recently opened up by the city council and faith groups, will mean up to 165 extra bed spaces will be available across the city for rough sleepers this winter.

The city council will work with an experienced provider of specialist support for homeless people, which will manage the buildings and provide staff who will be on site overnight.

Occupants will be able to get help accessing organisations that can help them, including by providing access to medical and mental health support and to drug and alcohol services.

Cllr Paul Andrews, Manchester City Council’s executive member for adult health and well-being, said: ‘We’ve spent months working on plans to open up empty buildings across the city to make sure nobody has to sleep rough on the streets this winter. This is a lengthy process, but we have now identified the first pair which we can open and we’re now continuing to carry out inspections so we can open more empty buildings in other parts of the city. As well as this, we've also reopened some buildings as shared houses, while faith groups are opening up other centres, meaning there will be a much wider range of bed spaces available across the city.

He continued: ‘While providing shelter and a roof over their heads is obviously a good start, what’s really important is working with charities, faith groups and our own homelessness services to make sure the right help and support is available to rough sleepers so we can help them make the first steps towards getting off the streets for good.’