Outreach programmes inundated with homeless from across the county
Watch: report by ITV News Meridian's Andy Dickenson
Outreach workers in Eastbourne say they're struggling to cope with the number of homeless people in the town, partly because dozens remain after being sent during the pandemic.
There are currently four times as many rough sleepers in Eastbourne as there were five years ago. Yet more than 100 homeless people have been shipped there from Brighton, adding pressure to already stretched services. Some rough sleepers themselves say they're struggling with the move and feel trapped, unable to return without losing their benefits.
A Salvation Army hall in Eastbourne see's queues forming as soon as it opens. It feeds homeless people in temporary accommodation while they prepare themselves for life back on the streets.
Of the 80 people fed at the Salvation Army on the day we visited, its estimated half are from elsewhere. Currently 117 homeless people in Eastbourne are actually from Brighton, sent during the pandemic.
Ian Heard was similarly relocated from Worthing and says he's struggled. After nine years clean, he's back on drugs.
Ian Heard
Desperate to help, the local rotary club is hoping to raise £400,000 to kickstart a new housing project called Homes for Homeless.
This soup kitchen is doubling its capacity to produce a thousand meals a week, and Martin Young is one of the lucky ones who says his life has been transformed.
Martin Young, former rough sleeper
Brighton & Hove City Council says it hopes to move more people back and into long-term accommodation and that it continues to keep the situation under review.