THE head of a Brighton homeless support organisation was quoted in The Argus (February 26) as saying that there are plumbers, electricians, and carpenters within the city’s homeless community.

Perhaps, to substantiate this claim, he can contact The Argus again and explain why skilled tradespeople such as these need, as he put it, “something to focus on and help distract from the harsh reality of the street”

because, according to the latest data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), the average electrician salary in the UK is £30,765 per year, closely followed by plumbers who earn an average of £29,136 and carpenters who can expect to bring home £25,729 every year.

On top of that, under the heading of “UK construction worker shortage hits record” the Federation of Master Builders (FMB) announced, just last month, that demand for skilled plumbers, electricians and carpenters was outstripping demand.

We have, therefore, a situation whereby the ONS says that wages are high, the FMB says that job vacancies are high but Sussex Homeless Support says people, who could get jobs matching their talent and earning these sorts of salaries, are living on the streets in Brighton.

Are they? Well, all I can do is quote something else that he said in The Argus, and that was; “the talent is just unreal”. Unreal because it doesn’t exist?

Eric Waters, Lancing