Councillor Brian Oxley seems to have overlooked the reality of homelessness in the Brighton and Hove area. I suggest he presents himself at Brighton and Hove City Council's Housing Aid Centre, tells the council officers he is homeless, has no local connection and is in good health. He may find what happens next to be a shock, for there is not the automatic route to housing he seems to suggest.

Furthermore, with very few exceptions, the people being rehoused following homelessness have a local connection and will have undergone the rigours of assessment in order to even be considered for rehousing under the council's statutory duty. The people Coun Oxley refers to will often be other local residents' parents, children or grandchildren.

I sincerely hope he reflects upon what he has said in The Argus and makes an appropriate apology, for to make sweeping statements of this kind does not bode well for either the people affected or, I would suggest, his future leadership of the Conservative group.

-Coun Steve Collier, Brighton and Hove City Council