Government figures show a substantial fall in the number of homeless families in Sussex.

But there are still thousands in the county living in temporary accommodation such as bed and breakfasts.

The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM) revealed yesterday there were 2,235 families without a proper home at the end of September.

That included 534 in Brighton and Hove, which has the highest concentration of homelessness in the county.

Between July and September, 146 new families were officially identified as in need of a permanent home urgently.

But the count was down from September 2004, when there were 2,576 homeless across Sussex, including 603 in the city.

Nationally, homeless figures fell by 23 per cent over the same period.

Housing Minister Yvette Cooper said:

"Record investment and new programmes to prevent people becoming homeless are making a big difference.

"Alongside this, we have reduced rough sleeping by 75 per cent and ended the scandal of families living in bed and breakfast hotels for long periods.

"The next step is to get more people into settled homes and out of temporary accommodation.

"We also need to keep up progress on prevention and build more social housing as well as more new homes."

The figures were released as South-East County Leaders (SECL), who represent East and West Sussex county councils and Brighton and Hove City Council, told MPs to put a brake on house-building plans or ramp up infrastructure investment.

Keith Mitchell, SECL chairman, told the ODPM select committee: "There is so much concern housing has come in significant numbers without the infrastructure.

"A significant portion of the public would say, 'no more growth without infrastructure'.

There is a lack of confidence."

Mr Mitchell said too much cash from developers was being channelled into affordable housing, "starving" roads and other infrastructure of investment.

He said: "The South-East is particularly clogged because it's the engine room of the economy and it's a gateway that contains, Gatwick, Heathrow, a number of ports and the Channel Tunnel.

"So it carries a lot of through-traffic while the train services are at capacity in many places."