Four people were found sleeping rough in Canterbury when homeless charity Porchlight carried out its annual count.

Volunteers found evidence of three more rough sleepers, a decrease of one on last year’s count.

Kimba Smith, outreach strategic area manager for Porchlight co-ordinated the

count, which took place across all Kent.

“In every area we have found people sleeping rough or evidence that there are rough sleepers,” she said. “The figures however do not do justice to the increase in numbers our outreach team are working with on a daily basis,”

Between July and September, this year, Porchlight received 295 referrals, with 60 per cent of those sleeping rough.

Canterbury came second for numbers of referrals at 45, with Gravesham coming top with 56. A third of all referrals across Kent are aged 18 to 24.

“The street count is only a snap shot of the people who are sleeping rough,” said Porchlight chief executive Mike Barrett.

“It does not show the whole picture of homelessness, as we never find all the people who we know are rough sleeping and it doesn’t record the hidden homeless; people who are homeless but not necessarily sleeping on the street or at least not every night.”