More than 1,000 families in Sussex are homeless, according to the latest government figures.

The number of people in temporary accommodation is gradually coming down except in Brighton and Hove.

The total number of households in bed and breakfast accommodation, hostels, refuges and short-term private housing association or council accommodation in the city in the first quarter of this year was 680.

This was an increase on the 559 recorded for the same period last year.

The figure for Eastbourne has dropped from 274 to 246 and in Worthing it decreased from 193 to 169.

Homeless charity Shelter is calling on Chancellor Gordon Brown to make affordable houses his top priority to try to get the numbers down across the South-East, which have now reached 12,800.

Adam Sampson, director of Shelter, said: "As more people are unable to get a foot on the housing ladder, there's a greater need for affordable housing, yet output of new social housing is at a record low.

"The consequence is record numbers of families trapped in temporary accommodation with devastating impact on their health, education and future prospects.

"The Chancellor must commit significant resources to affordable housing in the upcoming Spending Review."

An extra 89,000 low-cost homes needed to be built each year in England alone.

Mr Sampson said: "Temporary accommodation is often the worst quality of housing and the situation has a devastating impact on the health, education and job opportunities of families.

"Two-thirds of families surveyed for a Shelter report said their children had problems at school, with the average child missing 55 school days a year.

"There is nothing temporary about the damage done to their education and mental and physical health or the cost to the taxpayer, who is left to pick up the bill."

Brighton and Hove City Council says it is doing everything it can to get people out of temporary accommodation and into homes.

Jack Hazelgrove, chairman of the city council's housing committee, said: "We have made a commitment that families with children will not be placed in bed and breakfast accommodation unless it is an emergency and we have worked hard to reach this target as part of a package of measures to tackle homelessness in the city."

The city has managed to cut the number of families housed in B&Bs and rundown private properties have been modernised and brought back into use.

Brighton and Hove faces particular housing pressures because of high property prices and a shortage of low-cost housing.

The council's housing team has been working closely with housing associations and other organisations to tackle the problem.

Its high-profile scheme of easing housing shortages by moving poor families to Wales and the North has attracted 16 families in its first year.