IN response to Helen Woodall’s letter (‘Help those with home problems’, Thursday, May 16), homelessness continues to be a very important issue that the council and its partners are focused on addressing. Reducing homelessness and rough sleeping is one of our key housing priorities for the town.

Whilst we seek to prevent homelessness wherever possible, it cannot always be prevented and in these instances the council may provide emergency accommodation whilst longer term accommodation is being secured.

The council owns and manages its own emergency hostel which it helps to limit placements in bed and breakfast environments.

The quality of bed and breakfast establishments has been mixed and we have recently issued a specification to all establishments to define the minimum standards we expect.

Where people have to be placed in emergency accommodation, we aim for people to be there for only a very short period of time.

We have a multi-agency Homelessness Strategy Group in place with agencies such as Shelter, which works to develop and shape homeless services in Bournemouth to best meet needs.

Our overall approach involves encouraging people to seek advice as soon as possible, ensuring the right support services are in place, improving access to information about housing options, minimising the number of people in emergency accommodation and increasing the availability of appropriate settled accommodation and increasing the availability of appropriate settled accommodation for those who find themselves homeless.

LORRAINE MEALINGS, strategic housing services manager, Bournemouth Borough Council