TO HEAR of a homeless man being set on fire in his sleep is hideous, that much is obvious.

What is not so clear is how anyone could have brought themself to commit such a crime.

When a man is sleeping in a doorway at a shopping centre he is already at a very low point.

This is what makes it even harder to understand.

Charities have told The Argus how vulnerable the homeless are and the figures point to that.

The cold, hard floors they sleep on are enough to cause them enough of a health risk without having to face becoming victims of crime.

When a man had his sleeping bag set on fire in Brighton earlier this year he could have died. This time the man could have been blinded or worse.

We may yet hear more about what led to this latest attack but whatever we learn of the background it will surely remain difficult to understand.

What is clear is that with the uncertain nature of the economy at the moment the chance for all of us to have more money available to help homeless charities will be at risk. We can only hope that Brexit does not put paid to much of everyone’s disposable income, for the sake of the economy. The fear is that more people will be pushed to their limit financially and it will be a tragedy if more end up sleeping rough on our streets.

People have different reasons for becoming homeless and it is not always simply about money. There can be family problems, a violent past they are fleeing from.

We have fantastic charities here like the Brighton Housing Trust, doing all they can to help people.

They are battling against helping these people with difficult backgrounds amid a housing situation which must be as difficult as ever in terms of cost for those on low income.

Many have to move out of the city to keep a roof over their heads.

We must ensure that we help people to remain housed. If they do not end up on the streets then they won’t put themselves at such risk of such callous and inhuman crimes.