Joblessness is driving people to live in tents in parks and woods in Sussex.

Homeless people, including Eastern European migrants left unemployed after the economic downturn, are increasingly turning to life under canvas, The Argus can reveal.

Some say they feel they have no choice but to live rough because of difficulties getting work and housing.

Andy Winter, director of Brighton Housing Trust, said while housing agencies will not simply turn their back on homeless people, those from outside Brighton and Hove do not get priority for help.

He said: “Brighton is full up. We have got far too great a demand on services.

“If someone arrives in the city without a local connection we will generally work to try to support them to go back to where they have come from.”

Simon Kirby, Conservative MP for Brighton Kemptown, said he is aware of people living in East Brighton Park.

Eastern European men are believed to have been living in tents in the area as recently as two weeks ago.

Police elsewhere in Sussex, including Bognor, have reported a rise in street drinking by Eastern Europeans after losing their jobs.

A man in a tent is believed to have spent several months living in a wooded area near the Bristol Estate in Brighton.

One caller to The Argus said this week they knew of a person living in a tent at Devil’s Dyke.

Read the full story in today's Argus.