CONCERNS have been raised about the number of homeless people in Castle Point after new figures revealed a 47 per cent increase in four years.

Castle Point Council is now developing a five-year action plan to combat the problem after the number of homelessness cases jumped from 790 in 2008 to 1,165 in 2012.

The council’s plan includes developing a strategy alongside social services to reduce parental evictions, liaising with specialist agencies to prevent instances of domestic violence and providing key support to tenants on money management, debt and budgeting.

Tory councillor Eoin Egan, chairman of the council’s wellbeing scrutiny committee, which is considering the plans, said: “Homelessness is a problem and the key for us is not letting it get out of hand, especiallywith all the caps to benefits coming in.

“I want to make sure nobody slips through the net, and that we have suitable emergency housing in place and support systems to help them.”

Since 2008 the council has helped 4,683 families who were struggling to keep a roof over their heads and last year alone, saved 138 families from homelessness, with 34 cases classed as emergencies.

However, between 2010 to 2011 cases of homelessness caused by parents evicting their children, doubled from six cases to 13.

Homelessness due to violent breakdowns of relationships has increased from five cases in 2010 to 14 cases in 2011.

There has also been a steady increase in the number of homelessness cases caused by mortgage arrears, probably because of the recent recession and increase in unemployment.

The action plan will also see a review of the private housing stock in the borough, improving accessibility to key information to help people keep their homes, and encouraging more landlords to link up with the council to provide emergency accommodation to families in dire need.

Mr Egan said: “My main concern is stopping those people who have been saved from homelessness becoming homeless again, which means we have to ask ourselves – are they getting enough benefits, are they getting enough advice from us?

“We also have to look at the wider picture, not just what’s happening in our borough, because we have on our doorstep Basildon and Southend, where we know there are problems.

“Hopefully, this action plan will help improve things and stop more people becoming homeless in the next few years.”

It is expected the draft homelessness action plan will be formally adopted in the next few months and will run until 2017.