COLCHESTER MP Will Quince has set out a parliamentary group’s plans to cut homelessness.

The Tory is the newly elected co- chairman to the all-party parliamentary group for ending homelessness, which has published its findings after a 12-month inquiry.

In a column in The Times, he said those most in need of support are care leavers, prison leavers and survivors of domestic violence.

He wrote: “Too often, care leavers ready to transition to adulthood are stopped in their tracks by being unable to access or maintain accommodation, a vital component to becoming independent.

“Our year-long inquiry found that one third of care leavers become homeless in the first two years after they leave care and 25 per cent of all homeless people have been in care at some point in their lives.”

In 2015, 35 per cent of female rough sleepers left their homes due to domestic violence.

He also said prison leavers often cannot immediately access housing and are often forced on to the streets, left unable to rehabilitate themselves.

He said: “Survivors of domestic violence who need sanctuary and stability are being forced back into dangerous, potentially life threatening, situations or into rough sleeping by a lack of housing support.

“A local authority should know exactly when a care leaver or prison leaver is making the transition from care and institutional life to independence and should be ready and resourced to step in at that stage.

“Similarly, survivors of domestic violence need to be better supported by local authorities and the police.”

Mr Quince added there is a lack of joined up government policy and service delivery.

He said: “All too often there is an inevitability to homelessness. This report, however, demonstrates that with focused and evidence-based interventions there is nothing inevitable about homelessness for these groups.

“We know that homelessness is life shattering and creates further problems, from loss of confidence to physical and mental-health breakdowns.”

The group’s aim is to halve the number of rough sleepers by 2022 and eliminate the problem altogether by 2027.