The government spends a fortune on housing homeless people in bed and breakfast accommodation, yet if the environmental health department was to visit some of these places they would be shut down immediately on safety grounds. A homeless friend was offered a room in Brighton, which had no lock on the bedroom door and was rodent-infested.

The government is paying those who run these places over the odds to keep vulnerable people in these cesspits. This is totally at odds with any concept of the right to be treated with dignity and respect.

In addition, while the government pays bed and breakfast rate, many of these places do not actually serve breakfast.

The irony is that many B&Bs in Brighton remain half-empty in the winter because they will not accept DSS.

Unfortunately, there's nothing unusual there. Practically every advert for accommodation states no DSS. If ads said no Chinese, gays or lesbians or something similar they would not be allowed because of anti-discrimination laws, but there seems to be no such exemption for anyone claiming benefit.

The government does not seem to realise how much money it is pouring into the pockets of unscrupulous landlords who can get away with offering sub-standard accommodation at bumped-up prices because no one else will take the homeless or anyone else unfortunate enough to be claiming benefit.

-Anne Williams, Fourth Avenue, Hove