Steep rise in total of city's homeless

A year into a three-year plan to tackle homelessness in the Faithful City, the council says there were 930 reported homeless people in March 2004, compared to 600 in March 2003.

Principal Housing Strategy Officer Kate Bailey said salary-busting house price rises and the slow development of affordable housing in the city were behind the increase.

"We have estimated there has been a shortfall in affordable housing being built by around 250 units a year over the past two years, though we won't know for certain until we have carried out a comprehensive housing survey later this year," she said.

Despite the alarming rise, the Strategic Housing Team, set up by Worcester City Council to ensure a coherent multi-agency approach to combating homelessness, claims it is on target to tackle the problem.

So far, successes include 10 new furnished temporary accommodation units, a joint scheme to take young people off the streets, an A-Z directory of homeless services in the city and a continued scheme providing support for people sleeping rough.

"Despite intense pressures on the service, we're further down the line than we realistically expected to be after the first year," said Ms Bailey.

Over the next two years, the team will target drug abuse, find more temporary and permanent accommodation and create an information network between organisations such as the Citizen's Advice Bureau, Worcester Housing and Benefits Association and city hostels.

St Paul's Hostel manager Chris Ashcroft said its 56 beds were always full and the homeless seemed to be getting younger.

Worcester's YMCA Chief Executive Bernard Kelly said the problem was not just making more beds available.

"We have to make sure that there are the resources to deal with people's problems," he said.

"At the moment there is a lack of organisations that can deal with certain problems.

"Whether there are enough bed spaces is not the only question we should be asking."