Cash-strapped families struggling to survive in Brighton and Hove are being offered the chance to start new lives - in Wales.

The city council is encouraging tenants to move from Sussex in an effort to tackle its five-year housing waiting list.

Councils and housing associations from Wales and the North of England, which are offering properties for as little as £32 a week, are seeking tenants from Brighton and Hove.

The city's social housing situation is reaching crisis point, with about 6,000 people looking for homes and just 900 becoming available each year.

In parts of Wales waiting lists are non-existent with properties sitting empty.

The sharp differences in supply and demand prompted the city council to invite landlords from across the country to meet prospective tenants at an open day at the Brighton Centre yesterday.

Esther Cohen, manager of the council's choice-based lettings project, said the aim of the day was to "open up options".

She said: "Everyone is aware the social housing situation in Brighton and Hove is very difficult. We are trying to change the way we offer services to people.

"The idea was to provide people with access to other landlords in other areas of the country which can more or less offer houses immediately.

"We are not telling people they should move out of Brighton but we want to make them aware of all the options."

Under the council's transfer incentive scheme, grants of up to £3,500 are offered to people who agree to move into smaller houses in Brighton or elsewhere in the country.

The council may also help cover the costs of a move.

The 750 tenants who visited the open day had mixed reactions.

Carrie Tidey, 36, was born in Brighton, living in and around it for 25 years. She has been waiting for more than a year to move from her housing association property in Peacehaven back to Brighton.

She said: "It feels like the council is just trying to kick people like me, who simply cannot afford to buy, out of the city."

Others, including mother-of-three Louise Mustow, 32, were tempted by the offer of cheaper, bigger homes elsewhere.

Louise lives in a one-bedroom council flat in Bowring Way, Brighton and is among 3,000 families wanting to be rehoused. After a five-year wait she is considering the option of Wales.

She said: "There is just not the accommodation in Brighton. I feel scared by the thought of moving away but it is certainly something I am considering."

Among those represented at the open day was Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council, which has 90 sheltered housing units sitting empty.

The council's senior planning officer Martin Ashford said: "There has been more interest for these properties from people living outside the area, than inside. The demand in this part of Wales is just not there. We have no idea why."