A wide ranging action plan has been drawn up after Colchester Council admitted it has not done enough for the town's homeless people.
Councillors last night pledged to stop using bed and breakfast accommodation for homeless people.
The town has one of the worst homelessness problems in the east of the country.
Now the borough council has been given £120,000 of Government funding to try to reduce the number of people living in bed and breakfast accommodation.
A two-year action plan involving a number of agencies will aim to address the problems.
The scheme will tackle the causes of homelessness by having a fast-track scheme for obtaining housing benefit, offering financial incentives to landlords, mediation schemes for 16-17 year olds and between tenants and landlords.
Last year, 70 per cent more homeless people in Colchester were put in bed and breakfast accommodation than in the previous year.
Published Wednesday August 21, 2002
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