HOMELESS shelters will be opened up tonight ahead of "extreme" weather conditions.

The Severe Weather Emergency Protocols (SWEP) shelters will be made available in Brighton as the MET office predicts temperatures will drop to 3°C during the night.

A spokesman for Brighton and Hove City Council said: "People sleeping rough are a constantly changing population and the city’s street services work with more than 1,200 cases each year, 30 new cases every week.

"People sleeping rough die younger, are more likely to get ill and are more vulnerable to violence than those in the wider population."

The council works with several other organisations to open up emergency shelters and combat this

A spokesman said: "To help rough sleepers it is critical that we work together with other organisations.

"We open a severe weather shelter in extreme weather conditions.

"It provides shelter for all rough sleepers in the city and venues are made available to meet demand. The main base is at Wagner Hall, West Street."

The shelter is opened when a “feels like zero degrees” temperature is forecast by the Met Office, and also takes into account windchill.