0:00:00 > 0:00:01Newsnight is coming up on BBC Two.
0:00:12 > 0:00:13Good evening.
0:00:13 > 0:00:15There's been a big rise in the number of homeless
0:00:15 > 0:00:18people across the North West according to a new study
0:00:18 > 0:00:20by the housing charity Shelter.
0:00:20 > 0:00:25It says homelessness has gone up by 24% in a year.
0:00:25 > 0:00:27Its figures show 9,350 people here are classed as
0:00:28 > 0:00:33homeless.
0:00:33 > 0:00:37Ten hot spots have been identified from Manchester, which has the worst
0:00:37 > 0:00:40problem to less expected areas like South Ribble.
0:00:40 > 0:00:42The statistics are based on the numbers sleeping
0:00:42 > 0:00:45on the streets living in hostels and families staying in emergency
0:00:45 > 0:00:47bed and breakfast accommodation.
0:00:47 > 0:00:49More than a third of the region s homeless people are in
0:00:49 > 0:00:54Manchester where one in every 154 people is homeless.
0:00:54 > 0:01:04Stuart Flinders reports.
0:01:07 > 0:01:13Usman lives in the box. It is cosy and safe but it is still a box and
0:01:13 > 0:01:18he has to share it. It is not a very big space but is it comfortable?
0:01:18 > 0:01:27Yes. It is very nice.Usman is a refugee from Sudan who found his way
0:01:27 > 0:01:34to this day centre.We used to have people sleeping outside the front
0:01:34 > 0:01:38door and staff came to us one day and said they have to do something
0:01:38 > 0:01:43about this. There was a person from a building company that offered to
0:01:43 > 0:01:48put a poured in for us and we took advantage of it. You see this train
0:01:48 > 0:01:57is going up building flats but it is unaffordable.Why has there been an
0:01:57 > 0:02:02increase in homelessness? Is it down to a shortage of housing, benefit
0:02:02 > 0:02:09cuts or a crisis in drink and drug abuse? Every case is different.The
0:02:09 > 0:02:13key factors driving this is the lack of affordable housing and welfare
0:02:13 > 0:02:18benefit reforms. Cuts to the welfare benefits system, bedroom tax,
0:02:18 > 0:02:25benefit cuts and housing benefit freeze for four years.This man
0:02:25 > 0:02:30turns up at a homeless centre in Saltford at the right time. Oh
0:02:30 > 0:02:37donation of winter coats has arrived.Thank you very much.
0:02:37 > 0:02:42Originally from Angola, he is a British citizen. He lost his flat
0:02:42 > 0:02:49and a job as a delivery driver. Where are you sleeping?In the
0:02:49 > 0:03:01streets. I collapsed at night and was taken to hospital.At least
0:03:01 > 0:03:04Usman has somewhere to return to tonight. For those that don't come
0:03:04 > 0:03:06it will be a long winter.
0:03:06 > 0:03:08The Government says it's determined to tackle homelessness
0:03:08 > 0:03:10investing 950 million pounds by 2020 and introducing
0:03:10 > 0:03:13the Homelessness Reduction Act.
0:03:13 > 0:03:19That requires councils to provide early support to people at risk.
0:03:19 > 0:03:22Manchester has the most homeless people in the
0:03:22 > 0:03:23region.
0:03:23 > 0:03:25I asked the Council's Deputy Leader Bernard Priest
0:03:25 > 0:03:30if that was embarrassing?
0:03:30 > 0:03:38It is embarrassing but we have got to understand why it is that
0:03:38 > 0:03:43Manchester has this problem. We are in the middle of an economic policy
0:03:43 > 0:03:47driven by the government which is forcing people into poverty. What
0:03:47 > 0:03:52I'm not embarrassed about is the response that Manchester City
0:03:52 > 0:03:57Council and its many pounds -- partners have made to this growing
0:03:57 > 0:04:03problem.It is obviously not working if you mark the worst in the
0:04:03 > 0:04:08north-west. It doesn't seem to be successful.That is a logical
0:04:08 > 0:04:15conclusion but it is based on an understanding that people stay put.
0:04:15 > 0:04:22People move around in the Northwest. Manchester is a place where jobs are
0:04:22 > 0:04:26concentrated and there is a council that will support you. People
0:04:26 > 0:04:32gravitate towards Manchester. We are struggling.Do you think you can
0:04:32 > 0:04:39tackle it?This is not going to be one until the government understands
0:04:39 > 0:04:42they are causing this problem.
0:04:42 > 0:04:44A police investigation's under way after a body was found
0:04:44 > 0:04:47in a burning car on Cross Lane East at Partington in Greater
0:04:47 > 0:04:52Manchester this evening.
0:04:52 > 0:04:54It's not known if it's a man or a woman.
0:04:54 > 0:04:57The family of a Merseyside man who was stabbed to death
0:04:57 > 0:04:59after a row with scrambler bike has appealed for information
0:04:59 > 0:05:00to help catch his killer.
0:05:00 > 0:05:0329-year-old Adam Ellison was stabbed in Prescot in the early hours
0:05:03 > 0:05:08of last Saturday morning.
0:05:08 > 0:05:16Please come forward and give information. We need justice.Little
0:05:16 > 0:05:22information. Anything to get these people. We are devastated.We wanted
0:05:22 > 0:05:28to get married. I would like somebody, anybody that knows
0:05:28 > 0:05:39anything to come forward.
0:05:48 > 0:05:59Now to the Paradise papers.
0:06:03 > 0:06:09Bought from a company. Brought from a company based in Jersey. In both
0:06:09 > 0:06:15places you can avoid playing -- paying taxes when you buy a
0:06:15 > 0:06:20property.It is deeply regrettable and will end up being
0:06:20 > 0:06:27disadvantageous to the ratepayer.In Sefton, all parties voted that the
0:06:27 > 0:06:33purchase. Birchwood Park cost the council £200 million.Lots of
0:06:33 > 0:06:37councils and beyond are looking at investments in property which are
0:06:37 > 0:06:42designed to help produce an income which will take the pressure off
0:06:42 > 0:06:46their budgets which are being squeezed.Buying a place like this
0:06:46 > 0:06:51is like buying a house or flat. You have to pay stamp duty. The council
0:06:51 > 0:06:56bought the holding company but because that is offshore, they
0:06:56 > 0:07:01avoided paying £10 million in stamp duty. It will have to pay that if
0:07:01 > 0:07:06you brought this asset back on shore. We'd be bringing this back on
0:07:06 > 0:07:10the shore?We will have that debate and the executive board will make
0:07:10 > 0:07:18another decision around the status of the assets.Why is it debate? You
0:07:18 > 0:07:24would want to avoid paying tax.I understand part of that logic. The
0:07:24 > 0:07:28council would have to raise council tax to meet its stamp duty
0:07:28 > 0:07:34liability.Sefton Council has confirmed whether it has paid stamp
0:07:34 > 0:07:38duty but it has insisted in no way has there been any avoidance of
0:07:38 > 0:07:49tasks -- tax.
0:07:53 > 0:08:00Ken Dodd is celebrating his birthday. I spoke to him at
0:08:00 > 0:08:09Liverpool's Theatre.It is the Ken Dodd show. Life has been a journey.
0:08:09 > 0:08:16I have been blessed and got lost once or twice. I am two people.
0:08:16 > 0:08:21Kenneth of the Dodd from knotty Ash. The one sitting here now and I am
0:08:21 > 0:08:31Ken Dodd, the former.Kenneth Arthur Dodd has never moved. Why stay in
0:08:31 > 0:08:36the same place?I live in my grandmother's house. My father used
0:08:36 > 0:08:43to make my props for me and wrote my first jokes. My mother said, "Kenny,
0:08:43 > 0:08:53I don't care what you go, as long as you were a clean shirts. " Why have
0:08:53 > 0:09:03you had such longevity? I have been very blessed.The jokes still work.
0:09:03 > 0:09:08I don't do dirty. I don't know how to spell the words. You have
0:09:08 > 0:09:13approximately 30 seconds to make friends with the audience. You play
0:09:13 > 0:09:18an audience likely play an instrument. You know where the
0:09:18 > 0:09:24hotspots are, when you can float. At midnight tonight, your husband or
0:09:24 > 0:09:30boyfriend or both of them.Where is your favourite theatre?The one I am
0:09:30 > 0:09:38playing tonight. Every show has to be the best.Many happy returns.
0:09:38 > 0:09:45More congratulations on Liverpool as the City Council awarded our
0:09:45 > 0:09:48colleagues at BBC Radio Merseyside the freedom of the city. Let's get
0:09:48 > 0:09:48the
0:09:48 > 0:09:54the freedom of the city. Let's get the weather forecast. Good evening.
0:09:54 > 0:09:57Lots of autumn sunshine today but it was a cold start. We had to get over
0:09:57 > 0:10:22that. The day turned out to be very pleasant. Through this