The newly elected Mayor of the West Midlands, Andy Street, has kicked off his term in office with a commitment to tackling rough sleeping and homelessness in the region.

On his first official day since being elected as the Mayor on Friday, Andy visited St Basil’s in Digbeth as he began the process of forming a task force for homelessness and rough sleeping. The aim is to have the first meeting of the group before the end of the week.

The first week in office will also include setting up the Mayoral bases in Wolverhampton, Coventry and Birmingham. As part of his pledge to be the most transparent Mayor in the country, Andy has reaffirmed his commitment to be as mobile as possible.

Mr Street also met with the interim chief executive of the West Midlands Combined Authority, Martin Reeves, to talk about how early pledges in his manifesto could be delivered. Andy said:

“It became increasing clear during the seven months on the campaign trail that the issue of rough sleeping in our towns and cities is something everybody considers unacceptable. It was even more clear that they want to see the Mayor to lead our response.

“Frankly, it’s a situation that shames us as a region. Although it is not directly in the powers of the Mayor, I want to make this an early priority.

“The first thing we need is a co-ordinated approach to the challenge and that is what I plan to offer. We need organisations and people to be working together much better than they currently do.

“Of course, we won’t achieve everything overnight. But we must make early and visible progress so that people can see the value of the Mayor and the West Midlands Combined Authority.”