A CHARITY'S chief executive has estimated that £1 million needs to be spent over the next two years in East Kent to help people who sleep rough. Mike Barrett, of Canterbury Cyrenians, was speaking after a snap shot census of rough sleepers carried out by the charity and local councils found 20 in Canterbury, Dover and Margate.

Funding was needed for more supported accommodation. The charity was full and the Canterbury Open Centre had to turn people away from its night shelter.

The census found seven in Canterbury - though double that are known to exist - and seven in Dover though again staff know there are double that figure. Margate's six were about the number expected.

Mr Barrett stressed: "It's just a snapshot. It's nothing else. It can't be taken as the definitive answer as numbers of people rough sleeping."

The problem was hidden homelessness. Some slept on a friend's floor; others slept in areas too dangerous for staff to go to such as unlit multi-storey car parks or alleyways.

It was known these people existed because they were seen during the daytime.

Mental health worker Keith Talbut, who works at the Canterbury Open Centre, said: "Every night we've got a decision to make. We can only have 20 in here and more often than not there are 22, 24, 26 waiting to get on the list."

He added: "If we had better facilities, which is a big ask, we could quite easily accommodate 30 to 40 people, if we were to widen our scope and not just people from the Canterbury area."

Mr Talbut said it was hoped, eventually, to employ more daytime staff who would work with homeless people in raising their self-confidence and over the long-term breaking the cycle. Funding difficulties had delayed this.