AN ACTION plan to help the homeless has started in Chelmsford.
After an influx of rough sleepers over the past three months, city councillor for Moulsham, Dick Madden, arranged meetings with the council, police and charity group representatives.
As part of the plan, he negotiated with the housing department at the city council to extend the Winter Project of homeless charity CHESS for an extra month.
Cllr Madden said: "I am looking at the homeless issue in terms of short-term, medium-term and long-term goals.
"I know this is not going to be solved overnight, but I am constantly talking to everyone to try and resolve the problem.
"Homelessness has not just arrived in Chelmsford, we have had it for many years.
"But what happened after that excellent article in the Essex Chronicle, is it brought attention to the fact that there has been an influx, particularly in this area. CHESS has a maximum amount of people they can cope with, but the Winter Project is a valuable facility for the homeless."
CHESS operations manager Rob Saggs agreed the extra month has helped out their long waiting list of people seeking refuge from the streets, but also stressed it could not solve the problem completely.
Mr Saggs said: "The situation is still pretty dire. It was good of the council to fund one extra month of the project, but there are limited spaces. Around 27 were on it last year.
"We cannot help everybody because some do not wish to be helped, but it alleviated some of those struggling on the streets."
Cllr Madden is also working closely with Essex Police's new outreach worker, Karen Wenzel, who will focus on alcohol abuse. There is also a special phone number for people to call if they see the homeless acting antisocially, rather than calling 999.
Inspector Cheryl Hayes has been working for Essex Police to help tackle the homeless issue.
She said: "We hold monthly meetings to discuss what to do next. The problem we have, which is really frustrating, is many people do not want to be helped.
"This is a long process but we have already seen less people on the streets, and we need all the other agencies to tackle the issue together."
"Just to show what was going on, I even took Simon Burns MP, the police and crime commissioner Nick Alston, and chairman of Moulsham Traders, Jayne Gayer, down to the street," he said.
"I often find myself explaining to residents and traders that this is not something that can be tackled overnight.
"I have spoken to some of the rough sleepers myself, like Greg Dyson, and he said he is always being given food and money, so he does not need more help."
