HOMELESS people are not always jobless or short of money, councillors have said.

Colchester Council’s scrutiny panel met to review performance around reducing homelessness and rough sleeping.

Demand for social housing in Colchester continues to outweigh the supply.

But in 2017/18 the number of households prevented from becoming homeless was 869.

However, the job is still a difficult one for those leading the service, as more people are at risk of homelessness.

Karen Loweman, director of housing, said more and more working families come to see them as they are struggling to maintain a house in the private sector.

She said: “There is a young couple living in Colchester who live in a rented house which is a former council house.

“Their tenancy is £700 a month and they have lived there for six years. They have had to use credit cards to pay for things like petrol and are in between £8,000 and £10,000 of debt.

“Their landlord has now given them two months notice, it’s nothing they have done, they never feel behind on rent.

“It’s families like that who we see every day and we try to look for a solution for.”

However, positive news comes in the form of extra funding to tackle rough sleeping.

In total £517,123 has been secured from Government to prevent and support rough sleepers.