SOME £100,000 will be spent on supporting people struggling to find housing.

Colchester Council’s scrutiny committee met to discuss an underspend of £100,000 on B&B and homelessness initiatives.

Committee chairman Beverly Davies (Con) said it was concerning how the money had not been used.

She said: “I know of the great job being done by our homelessness co-ordinator, but I’m also aware they did not have much of a budget this year. We have such a problem with homelessness, so why the underspend?”

The money was due to be used as part of a landlord incentive, which was finalised late on in the year. It allows landlords to be more open to those who are struggling to find an affordable home.

Council leader Mark Cory (Lib Dem) said they needed to acknowledge which private landlords they can work with.

He said: “This is just a more complex part of a wider £3 million scheme.

“It will be used as we need to address this problem of homelessness. We wanted to get it right, it was not rushed and we didn’t want to waste the money.”