ANDY Burnham's homelessness fund has raised £135,000.

The Mayor's Homelessness Fund is part of Mr Burnham's plan to eradicate rough sleeping in Greater Manchester by 2020.

More than £50,000 of the sum has been raised from proceeds of the 'This Is The Place' book which was created with help of more than 60 artists who each took a line from Prestwich-poet Tony Walsh's iconic poem to inspire art, illustration, design and photography.

A further £10,000 donation came from fundraising by Towergate Insurance.

Mr Burnham, the Greater Manchester Mayor, said: “When I was elected I asked people to support our efforts to end rough sleeping in Greater Manchester and I have been taken aback by the generosity of people in our city-region.

“I’d like to thank everyone who has given their time, money and effort to help those in Greater Manchester who desperately need our support.

"Tony Walsh and everyone who was involved in the creation of ‘This is the Place’ book deserve particular thanks, once again they’ve shown the true spirit of Manchester and the money they’ve raised will help to make real positive change in our city-region.

“Since being elected I’ve regularly been out on our streets speaking with those who have no alternative but to sleep in doorways, risking their lives as temperatures plummet. It is unacceptable that this is still happening in 2017.

“We are working flat out to end rough sleeping in Greater Manchester by 2020, with ground-breaking solutions agreed that will make a real difference.

"Raising £135,000 is an incredible achievement, but we cannot and will not stop until we have ensured everyone has a safe and secure place to stay across Greater Manchester.”

The Mayor’s Homelessness Fund was set up by Andy Burnham on his first day in office to support organisations and charities who are working to tackle rough sleeping and homelessness in Greater Manchester.

Mr Burnham has been donating 15 per cent of his salary to the fund and today will make his December donation.

Money from the pot has already been used to help open a 15 bed hostel in Cheetham Hill, support the Emmaus charity, who work with their residents on trade and entrepreneurial skills and allowed Street Support Network to expand their online information hub for people who are homeless to every Greater Manchester borough.

In addition to the fund, earlier in the year the 10 Greater Manchester authorities, including Bury, ripped up the rule book to ensure a whole host of provisions were put in place to support people sleeping rough.

The councils now provide emergency support as soon as temperatures drop to freezing, not the legally-required three days.

Those who are homeless can also access documents needed to gain housing for free and can get help from a GP.

A £1.8million social impact bond will help to provide accommodation, intensive health support and improvements in the way homeless people are encouraged into education or work for up to 200 entrenched rough sleepers.

Andy added: “These changes will make a real difference to people. We are giving hope that people can break out of the circumstances they are in. The partnership work being done across Greater Manchester will save lives."