You can read the full version of the May 2025 e-bulletin here.

Our Action Groups and ongoing work
Activities and Wellbeing Action Group 
Greater Together Manchester is looking for volunteers who are able to referee football matches they hold on a Tuesday from 3pm to 5pm. If you are interested in volunteering, please email Margaret on margaret@greatertogethermanchester.org 
We are looking for donations of men and women’s sports clothes and trainers to enable people to participate in sport activities. If you are able to help, please email info@mhp.org.uk.
If you offer activities or sport sessions in Manchester that we can promote and raise awareness of, please email information to info@mhp.org.uk. 

Migrant Destitution Fund 
The Migrant Destitution Fund is pausing their grants programme at the end of May 2025 to ensure they have a robust funding pipeline to see them through the Autumn and Winter.
They will be reopening no later than 1 October 2025. While the grants programme is paused, their wider partnership-building and advocacy work will continue. People can donate here if they wish to support our grants – every penny of public donations goes direct to people who need it.  

Real Change MCR
A J Bell Greater Manchester Run
Thank you to all the runners who took part in the 10k run to raise funding for Real Change MCR. To date, over £2000 was raised from the run and you can still donate via this link.

Well-known voice backs Manchester homelessness fund’s work to give homelessness the elbow
Guy Garvey has lent his distinctive voice to a short film promoting the work of a Manchester fund which helps people experiencing homelessness. The Elbow singer has provided the voiceover for the clip which highlights the work of Real Change MCR, a fund which helps people build new lives away from the streets. The Real Change MCR fund is accessed by more than 20 homelessness organisations and charities which provide support people who are, or have been, sleeping rough. You can read the full news story here on the Manchester City Council website. 

Thanks to LUSH Manchester 
You can currently purchase an exclusive Bee tote bag from any of the LUSH stores in Manchester. 50 per cent of the sales is going to Real Manchester MCR. 

New Real Change MCR Action Group 
As well as the existing funding panel, a new Real Change MCR action group is being set up to focus on fundraising, communication and activities to raise awareness of the fund and its work. If you are interested in being involved, please email val@macc.org.uk 

Health and Homelessness

What you need to know about hospital discharge resource and postcard
Groundswell has created a resource to help frontline workers ensure a discharge from hospital is safe. There is also a postcard for those experiencing homelessness to advocate for their rights.

Patients experiencing homelessness
This article has been written as a practical guide for health care professionals, including useful tips no matter the experience level of working with people experiencing homelessness. It’s an important contribution to the urgent need to reduce stigma towards people experiencing homelessness, to tackle poor access to healthcare and to improve the quality of care – all of which our research shows currently cause significant harm to people experiencing homelessness. This article  has been published in the British Medical Journal on caring for patients experiencing homelessness, co-authored by lead Gemma Ashwell, Pathway Fellow and Chair of their Faculty Education Committee, Mandy Pattinson, Pathway’s Lived Experienced Manager, Stephen Hwang of Toronto, and Professor Andrea Williamson of the University of Glasgow.

Children and Young People
GM Trends Young People’s Survey
Young people (aged 13 to 25) who live in Greater Manchester, are being invited to take part in the 2025 GMTRENDS (Greater Manchester Testing and Research on Emergent and New Drug Trends) survey that aims to identify local emerging drug use trends. You can access the survey here. Please encourage any young people that you work with to complete it to be in with a chance of winning high street vouchers worth £50.
Report Launch: ‘Children Living in Temporary Accommodation: An Absolute Scandal’
You are invited to join Shared Health Foundation for the parliamentary launch of their new report exposing the profound and often overlooked impact of temporary accommodation on children’s rights, health and education. The report calls on local and national governments to implement urgent reforms to mitigate the impacts of temporary accommodation on children. This event will be taking place on Monday 2 June from 4pm to 5pm in Committee Room 15, House of Commons, SW1A 2JR.  Please register your interest via Ticket Tailor here. 
National call for evidence on neurodivergent children’s lives in temporary accommodation
The All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Households in Temporary Accommodation, in partnership with King’s College London, Shared Health Foundation and Autistica, has launched the first UK-wide Call for Evidence to gather experiences from parents/guardians and professionals about living in temporary accommodation (TA) with neurodivergent children. The findings from this call for evidence will be used to campaign for better support for families with neurodivergent children living in TA. The Call for Evidence runs for five weeks between 19 May and 20 June 2025. Find more information about the process and how to submit evidence here.

Migration and Homelessness
Homelessness and Rehousing Guide: For People Who Have Been Granted Refugee Status
Greater Manchester Law Centre have created a guide to support people who are facing homelessness or are navigating rehousing upon being granted refugee status. The guide has also been translated into Arabic and Tigrinya, which are available to download.
North West Regional Strategic Migration Partnership April 2025 Newsletter
You are able to read this newsletter here.
GMCA Chagossian Briefing 
This briefing is designed for individuals and organisations supporting newly arrived British-Chagossian households in Greater Manchester (GM) it is a guide to understanding the cohort including rights and entitlements.
Refugees at Home urgently need new hosts for single male guests in Greater Manchester. 
Refugees at Home is a UK charity which connects those with a spare room in their home to refugees and people seeking asylum who are in need of somewhere to stay. They are currently in urgent need of new hosts in Greater Manchester. If you are aware of any opportunities for outreach, please get in touch with tiffany.cole@refugeesathome.org
Article: UK riots led to deterioration in asylum seekers’ mental health, says report – The Guardian and Mental Health Foundation
Last month, the Mental Health Foundation published a report identifying a decline in the mental health of people seeking asylum as a result of the civil unrest and attacks on hotels during the summer of 2024.  Mark Rowland, CEO of the Mental Health Foundation said that people reported feeling “scared to leave their accommodation, risking increased isolation, and others said they feared they’d be attacked walking down the street just because of the colour of their skin.”
Blog: People who are initially refused asylum are slipping through the cracks: Urgent reform is needed
Refugee homelessness increased at an alarming rate in 2023-2024. According to official government statistics, homelessness among people leaving asylum accommodation rose by 251 per cent. Not only is this hugely traumatic for new refugees, but frontline services are feeling the impact too, with NACCOM members accommodating nearly double the number of refugees in 2023-24 than in the previous year. Read the full blog here.

Blogs, Guidance, Policies, Polls, Reports and Videos
Report: Citizens UK and Trust for London reveals the dire state of temporary accommodation in the UK
A new report launched by Citizens UK and Trust for London: ‘A long way from home: Improving the experiences of people in temporary accommodation’ reveals the dire state of temporary accommodation (TA) in the UK, with thousands of families across the UK being trapped in a broken system.
The Personal Grants Project – Centre for Homelessness Impact
Additional financial assistance programmes have received increased attention over the last decade. In low- and middle-income countries they have been used to alleviate poverty, with studies demonstrating that such interventions can lead to improved outcomes. The Centre for Homelessness Impact is pleased to share this ground-breaking project that is testing cash transfers as an intervention to support people out of homelessness.
Public Health and Homelessness – Partnership Event
This event took place on 1 April 2025 at the People’s History Museum in Manchester. The aim of the event was to update people on the Drug and Alcohol Treatment and Recovery Improvement Grant (DATRIG) and that moving forward, it will have a focus on quality, with communication being one way of achieving this. 
A NOISE (Needs, Opportunities, Improvements, Strengths and Exceptions) analysis took place and here you can read the findings.

Resources, Services and Training

Free Homeless Sector PIE Training
Homeless Psychologically Informed Environment training will be running again this summer from Greater Manchester NHS Mental Health Foundation Trust on Monday 30 June and  Friday 11 July 2025, from 10am to 4pm over Microsoft Teams. Click here to read the flyer. 
Bitesize Learning: Mental Health and Homelessness
This bitesize e-learning series has been funded by MHCLG through the VCFS Programme and hosted by Homeless Link. People experiencing homelessness are disproportionately affected by mental health challenges. This may be due to experiences of trauma, difficulties in accessing support services, or the experience of homelessness itself. Frontline workers in the homelessness sector must be equipped with the skills to understand various mental health conditions and work effectively with the mental health sector to ensure individuals receive the support they need. Click here to read more and watch all the sessions. 

A focus on Our Room
A welcome to Claire Bent as the new Chief Executive Officer at Our Room.
Our Room is an arts and social change charity supporting male, trans and non-binary people who sex work. Through a combination of diverse, engaging, challenging creative practice and professional support and advocacy they enable people to take control of their lives. Their support and advocacy team work with participants to address immediate and long-term support needs, offering practical support, advice and advocacy on a huge range of issues including but not limited to, substance misuse, housing troubles, sexual health, mental health and emotional wellbeing. Staff and volunteers are experienced professionals from the fields of social work, the arts and youth work and they work in partnership with agencies across Manchester.

Niall’s Corner
Here is the latest street homeless services list and map showing their locations. There has been a few edits and a new service added since the last update. Also here is a map showing free phone locations in the city centre courtesy of BT.

Campaigns
A Safe Place to Recover for All – Sign this Open Letter – Pathway

Pathway – Homeless and Inclusion Health are currently delivering a campaign to tackle the discharge of people from hospital to the streets, as part of this campaign they are asking people to sign a letter that they will be sending to Keir Starmer and other ministers.
Take action to oppose the new Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill – Boaz Trust
The Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill is currently making its way through parliament. Now is the time to stand together and make our voices heard. With hundreds of new MPs, we have an opportunity to call for change and begin taking steps towards dismantling the hostile environment.

Consultations and Surveys
Adult ADHD Consultation
NHS Greater Manchester wants to improve services for Adults with ADHD and are running a consultation about how we can do that. The consultation will run until 17 June 2025. Your thoughts and feedback are important and they need you to get involved in this consultation to help them to make the right decisions about the future of adult ADHD services.
GM Trends Professionals Survey
As a professional working in Greater Manchester, you are being invited to take part in a survey aimed at the early identification of emerging substance use trends in Greater Manchester. You can access the survey here. 

Funding Opportunities Greater Manchester Mayor’s Charity Applications are now being accepted for their Spring/Summer Small Awards Programme. Organisations across Greater Manchester are invited to apply for grants, worth up to £10,000, to support their work with people at risk of or experiencing homelessness and/or rough sleeping. They are particularly interested in hearing from organisations that are developing innovative solutions or looking to test new ideas. To be eligible to apply, your organisation must be based in Greater Manchester or delivering work within the city-region. As well as charities, we will also consider funding public bodies, CIOs, community groups, social enterprises, campaigning organisations and commercial companies whose work aligns to our priority areas and values. To find out more, and confirm your eligibility to apply, please visit their website. Deadline is 16 June at 5.00pm. They anticipate a decision on successful applications by the end of June 2025.