Liverpool Mayor Joe Anderson said he was "very angry" to hear that a homeless man had been turned away from a council-run shelter and forced to sleep in a doorway.
Mayor Anderson opened the Labre House rough sleeper facility in Camden Street in 2017 and vowed that anyone would be allowed in - regardless of their situation or background.
He even said he would ignore the government's rules about asylum seekers and support them.
But this week it was revealed that a rough sleeper who had been located by charity workers was denied access to the shelter because he was from Wirral.
The man had been discovered by Michelle Langan and her Papercup Project team - who said they were furious at having to leave him to sleep in a doorway after the knockback.
The following day, Liverpool Council immediately responded to say this had been a mistake and that the man should have been allowed in.
Mayor Joe Anderson said he was angry to hear about what had happened - and vowed that it won't happen again.
He said: "I was very angry, the whole purpose of Labre House was to offer shelter and support to anyone who needed it - regardless of their circumstances.
"We said at the start that we would put two fingers up to government if they told us we couldn't help asylum seekers - and we do - so we should definitely be helping someone from Wirral."
Mayor Anderson said that resources like Labre House are under pressure because of continued cuts to council budgets - but said this won't change his approach.
He said: "We will just have to figure out how we continue to do it - the pressure is there but we will always accept people who need help at Labre House, and this won't happen again."
