A CITY councillor criticised the Government’s response to support homeless people during the coronavirus pandemic but praised local support to help those in need.

Cabinet member for housing and asset management Cllr Kelsie Learney aired the remark as she awarded a £50,000 grant for Trinity Winchester.

Figures from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government reveal that 10 people were estimated to be sleeping on the streets in Winchester during a spot check on one night last autumn.

Cllr Learney said: “We have had some government support but frankly its rather pitiful in the current context and I think if we didn’t already have such a strong relationship with our partners we would be really worried at the moment, but I think as it stands we have confidence in our ability to deal with whatever comes in the next couple of months.

“It is very important that we do keep supporting our partners at this time and I welcome the fact that we are in constant communication with them.

“I certainly noticed coming here today that you have very different faces on the streets to the ones you normally see and it is quite clear that there has been a change out there in who we are seeing out and about.”

She was speaking before the Government advisor Louise Casey was reported to be calling on councils to find shelter for all rough sleepers by last weekend.

In a statement from the city council last night local rough sleeprs have been found a roof over their heads. It said: A spokesperson for Winchester City Council, said: “Our priority is to support the most vulnerable individuals in our community especially at this challenging time, and our dedicated team of staff have been working directly with people without a home.

"We have sufficient accommodation for our local and known rough sleepers but we are monitoring the situation daily to ensure any new rough sleepers arriving in Winchester are also safely supported off the streets into accommodation.”

The decision day meeting was made aware that the council is in communication with organisations across the city and the district as a whole about the availability of beds and support on offer as the crisis continues to worsen.

Head of housing options and allocations Gillian Knight said: “The support and offer was absolutely outstanding from the organisations with units being offered, A2Dominion have recently shut their young person’s product and I believe that is around nine beds that we may well be able to access in an emergency situation to get all of our rough sleepers off of the streets.

“They are having conference calls daily to make sure we know exactly who is on the streets because sometimes those numbers tend to fluctuate so we are really trying to keep a hold on what those numbers are by talking daily and making sure those that are coming through that we help have absolutely no other options. So I think it is crucial that we work together.”

In the last week the Government were urged to book hotel beds for homeless people to self-isolate from the coronavirus.

Doing so could “potentially save thousands of lives” throughout the country, say the Museum of Homelessness, as it warned shared emergency shelters could become “death traps”.