THERE are far fewer homeless people in Winchester than it appears - a meeting heard.

As reported in the Hampshire Chronicle, there have been issues in the past about "professional beggars" and conmen pretending to be homeless.

Now some figures have been given about the current scale of homelessness and begging in the city.

At a police and communities together meeting (PACT) held at the Discovery Centre,Kenna-Sian Young who is housing options manager at Winchester City Council gave a talk on how the authority is tackling homelessness.

Figures reveal that in March 2017, there were 110 incidents of begging and three of rough sleeping, but only one person was actually homeless.

The outreach team also identified 26 individuals who appeared to be sleeping rough, which included 24 males and two females, but none of these people had no accommodation.

Only 11 of these people are said to have any local connections to Winchester.

Neighbourhood Services Team member Andrew Murphy said: "The big perception is that we have lots of homeless and that is not true, the people in the street begging are putting out the perception they have nowhere to go but they do have accommodation and that's what we are trying to get across."

Cllr Ian Tait said the issue is a major problem in Winchester.

Cllr Tait said: "Alot of them are in West View at the moment and they have the sorts of issues and problems down there, it is all substance problems, some of them have anti social behaviour orders.

"I do not think the council is doing enough, it is not that they are begging but it is they are spending that money on hard drugs they are people that need some support.

"It is not a good advertisement for Winchester, but i do not want us to sweep it under the carpet we have to engage with them."

Cllr Tait added that some of the ones begging are getting almost £100 a day from it.

Winchester BID run Spare Change for Real Change scheme to help the homeless and needy in Winchester.

It works by collecting donations from the public and sharing the proceeds between the two aforementioned charities, who ensure that the money is used in the best possible way to work towards rehabilitating homeless people.