Church minister David Pavitt has shown his concern for the homeless by suggesting legalised squats should be found for them this Christmas.

It's a compassionate suggestion but it's not practical. By legalising squats, the authorities would have to take the consequences of putting people up in empty housing that may be uninhabitable.

A far better solution is to concentrate on improving the Government's Rough Sleepers' Initiative which has reduced the number of people on the streets.

A lot of money has been put into projects such as the one at St Patrick's Church, Hove, which provide shelter.

The pressing need is not only for this work to be expanded but also for more efforts to be made to find long-term solutions for homeless people.

There is little point in taking rough sleepers off the streets for a few weeks if they can't be offered more permanent housing at the end of that period and have to go back to their former ways.