Maidstone council is to tackle the problem of homelessness in the town with renewed vigour after securing additional funding from the Government.

Like the rest of the country, the number of people sleeping rough in the town has been on the increase - from just 26 in 2014, to 41 last year, to an estimated 48 currently.

Now the borough has been granted £334,000 from the Ministry of Housing's Rough Sleeping Initiative, with the likelihood of gaining an additional £369,00 the following year, if it can demonstrate the money has been well spent.

The town's head of housing John Littlemore has set himself the ambitious target of reducing the number of homeless on our streets to 13 by March of next year.

To do so, he has developed a new three-pronged approach which was enthusiastically endorsed by councillors on the communities, housing and environment committee last night.

The first is eligibility. At present, the council's outreach workers have to establish the immigration status of rough sleepers to see if they qualify for assistance from the public funds, but the council will be able to use some of the new money to assist even those non-UK and EU citizens into housing. This is a relatively small number - only four people at present.

Secondly, the council is to offer a "Relief Lite" service for entrenched rough-sleepers.

Mr Littlemore said that although the rough sleeping population was transient, with many drifting in and out of homelessness, there was a hardcore of clients who remained homeless year after year.

These were people with other problems who found it difficult to engage in the normal process. They were unwilling or unable to provide ID or complete the forms or agree a "personal housing plan" which are all required for them to be given accommodation under the Homelessness Reduction Act (HRA).

The Relief Lite scheme will cut down on the paperwork. Mr Littlemore said: "One of the problems with the HRA is the sheer volume of bureaucracy. Our outreach officers can be bogged down with writing letters and updating IT systems rather than helping people directly."

The council assists around 500 people a year under the HRA, but with a small number, around 20, it would be useful to "flex the rules."

Thirdly, this winter the council plans to offer its own winter accommodation in addition to the winter shelter run by local churches. It is arranging for 18-beds to be available through private landlords to cater for homeless people with complex and challenging needs that the volunteers at the church shelter find difficult to cope with.

Since 2017, the council has had a new 11-bed property called Pelican Court in Wateringbury, which it uses to provide quick temporary accommodation to those newly arrived on the streets. It had already offered shelter to 77 clients of whom 51 had been helped into permanent accommodation and 16 had found their own arrangements and were no longer on the streets.

This would now also be supplemented by a seven-bed assessment centre with a 24/7 concierge service specifically for those with extra needs.

Cllr Derek Mortimer (Lib Dem) welcomed the Relief Lite approach. Acknowledging how difficult it was to help some people, he said: "Some have an addiction and that is their top priority which they put above even their own welfare."

Cllr Patrik Garten asked officers to arrange for councillors to visit the shelters and meet the clients. He said: "We are sitting in our glasshouses and discussing the plight of people who really we have no connection with."

Cllr Matt Burton (Con) dismissed fears that by offering extra help to the homeless Maidstone might attract more rough sleepers from other boroughs.

He said: "I don't think this is something that should be talked of in terms of being a 'risk' to the borough. If we we are going above and beyond and offering a better service to our homeless than neighbouring boroughs that's something that we should be incredibly proud of."