MORE needs to be done to tackle the amount of homeless people in Wrexham, it has been claimed.

It comes as a report has shown that 669 people in the county are currently classed as homeless, compared to 306 in neighbouring Flintshire.

Wrexham Council's executive board approved the authority's homelessness strategy on Tuesday morning.

During the meeting, it was revealed that the number of rough sleepers in the area had reduced by almost half this year from 44 to 24.

However, concerns were raised regarding the overall figures, which include people living in temporary accommodation.

Rhosddu councillor Marc Jones (Plaid) said there was a significant issue with homelessness in his ward.

He said: "We’ve had people sleeping rough in the past week on Rhosddu Park in tents.

"Given Flintshire is a larger authority I’d like to know why we have so many more and is it something we should be concerned about?

"This is not a criticism of staff who are working very hard to deliver a very difficult service, but at the moment we’re paying £40 a night to house people in B&Bs that would fail to attract paying guests at that rate otherwise.

"I worry that in terms of council services, a lot of them are hollowed out in terms of dealing with not just the homeless issue, but the actual issue of housing.

"We’ve got 1,500 empty properties in Wrexham borough and we’ve got one empty homes officer dealing with those empty properties."

The council has prepared a homeless strategy for the first time, as a result of the introduction of the Housing Wales Act 2014.

It requires the authority to carry out a review of homelessness in the area and develop a strategy based on the findings.

In response to Cllr Jones' comments, temporary housing options lead officer Tracy Hague said: "I think we need to look at the strategy in its holistic form, in that it’s not just about rough sleeping.

"It’s about homelessness across the board whether you’re potentially homeless and sleeping on a sofa, whether you’re sofa surfing or whether you may have a fire or flood which automatically gives you that homeless status.

"You will note in the action plan that we are also considering having a standalone rough sleeper strategy to look at rough sleeping locally in Wrexham.

"I think that will hopefully answer some of the concerns that you have in particular in your ward, which I know causes a problem at the moment."

During the meeting, it was questioned whether there are enough services in Wrexham for rough sleepers who do not use drugs or alcohol.

Cllr Adrienne Jeorrett (Lab), who represents the Smithfield area of Wrexham town centre, said: "I’ve spoken to a number of rough sleepers recently and they are people who are not substance users, but are in recovery or are homeless through no fault of their own.

"Their concern is a lot services won’t accept them because they’re not users and I’m not sure how that fits in with the strategy."

In response to her concerns, Cllr David Griffiths (Ind), lead member for housing, said: "We do not turn anybody away that needs support.

"We can be restricted in the instructions we get from the Welsh Government, but we are working to see if we can work around it so that individuals do not suffer any more than they do at present."

The council is aiming to raise awareness of its housing options service so it can intervene before people reach crisis point.

It is working to end the use of bed and breakfast accommodation, as well as reducing the use of temporary accommodation and it is also looking to convert some of its existing housing stock into one-bedroom properties in order to meet the demand in the area.

The strategy was unanimously approved by members of the executive board.