WE'VE been posing your burning questions to the Colchester constituency candidates for next month's General Election.

Today's comes from Adam Caddy, who wants to know: "Homelessness is rife in Colchester and getting worse, at St Mary's car park and every shop door, it's intimidating. How will this be solved?"

  • Mark Goacher, Green Party candidate, said: "It will only be solved by investing in schemes to get people off the streets and by tackling the drug dealers who exploit the vulnerable.

Central government need to be instrumental in pushing for both and in funding the former.

In Colchester the police need to have a zero tolerance approach to drug dealers who come here from London so that they can be big fish in a small pond.

Drugs fuel homelessness. We need central government investment to get people off the streets via job creation programmes and drug rehabilitation.

We need to allow local councils to build more council housing and to get the homeless into this accommodation.

Nationally we need to guarantee all ex-service personnel and the under 21 age group a home by law in the first instance and then extend this to other groups and this should be funded from general taxation.

Locally we need to would closely with Colchester charities such as Beacon House and the GO4 Cafe to help those in need.

There is no excuse for intimidating begging however we must address the causes of homelessness and avoid tarring all homeless people with the same brush."

  • Will Quince, Conservative candidate, said: "One person sleeping rough on our streets is one too many.

That is why I am so passionate about ending homelessness and made this one of my priorities in Westminster.

I served as an officer on the All Party Parliamentary Group for Ending Homelessness in the previous parliament and served on the Bill Committee which scrutinised the Homelessness Reduction Bill.

More locally, I have supported Beacon House and Colchester Emergency Night Shelter and organised several sleep rough events during the Christmas period which have raised more than £7,000 for the charities, with another one taking place this year.

To end homelessness we need to tackle the root causes and intervene long before people reach crisis point. This will require a more joined up approach given the many complex causes of homelessness, and in particular rough sleeping, which include alcohol and drug abuse, mental health issues and family breakdown.

I believe Colchester Council, as the housing authority, not only needs to do more to help support those who are sleeping rough by looking to neighbouring local authorities like Chelmsford who are trialling new initiatives, but also use the powers available to them to clamp down on aggressive street beggars."

  • Sir Bob Russell, Liberal Democrats candidate, said: "The huge increase in rough sleepers in Colchester, repeated across Britain, is the direct result of Conservative’s policies over the past two years.

I can remember when shop doorways did not have people sleeping in them.

In addition to rough sleepers, a massively larger hidden problem is the failure of social housing provision from the mid-Eighties when successive Governments (Thatcher and Major, and Blair and Brown) failed to build council houses while at the same time large numbers were sold.

The rented housing crisis we have today is a consequence with thousands of people, families with children, living in accommodation not adequate for their needs.

I was delighted when the Coalition Government, thanks to Liberal Democrat insistence, once again allowed council houses to be built... several were in Colchester.

Sadly, the Tories ended this after the 2015 General Election.

Finding accommodation for rough sleepers should be relatively easy - if we had a Government who cared!

Evidence shows among rough sleepers are some who have served in our armed forces.

When I was MP I was in advanced talks with a national housing association to provide accommodation for former military personnel.

Colchester Council supported this but financial support from Essex County Council (Tory controlled) was not forthcoming.

The buildings which would have been used are still there, empty, just awaiting conversion.

I would welcome the opportunity as MP to pursue this ambitious project."

  • Robin Rennie, the Christian People's Alliance candidate, said: "Homelessness is certainly a growing problem and there are many reasons why we are seeing more people on the streets.

The causes of homelessness are many, ranging from marriage break-ups to abuse of drugs and alcohol and mental health problems.

The new Homelessness Reduction Act will hopefully have a significant impact on this terrible problem. There should be more emphasis on helping people who are at risk of homelessness which should reduce the need for dealing with those on the streets and in temporary campsites.

There should be more joined-up action.

Not all the homeless people want to live in a housing setting. I know one guy who lives in a number of rural locations. He walks miles every day to go into Colchester town, and gets assistance from local charities.

He doesn’t beg and I have seen him picking up litter on the pavements. He would find it very difficult to change his way of life.

During my activity as a street pastor in the town centre, I meet all the people who are sitting in shop doorways.

We need to make sure emergency accommodation is available and the work of Beacon House continues to make a great difference!"

  • Tim Young, Labour candidate, said: "The simple answer is to build more homes.

The level of housebuilding has dropped to the lowest level since the Twenties under this government despite the housing crisis.

Labour would build 1 million homes by 2022, half would be affordable including a large proportion of new council houses, with supporting infrastructure.

The Conservatives changed the rules so Colchester Council’s new housebuilding programme was rendered financially unviable; this was extremely short-sighted.

The funding would come from a £250 billion National Transformation Fund through a National Investment Bank set up to borrow to invest in infrastructure projects.

Since 2010 the number of people sleeping rough has more than doubled and we have seen evidence of this in Colchester despite the great work being done for the homeless by charities.

The spiralling rise in street homelessness results directly from decisions made by the Conservative government.

Labour would set out a national plan to end rough sleeping by making available 4,000 additional homes reserved for people with a history of rough sleeping.

We need to take action to tackle the root causes of homelessness including safeguarding homeless hostels, supported housing and young people from housing benefit cuts.

This would be a top priority for me given my track record as a councillor with a passionate interest in housing and as the chairman of a local housing association.

  • For an at-a-glance look at the Colchester candidates, click here.