The Government is launching a new initiative in a bid to halve rough sleeping by 2022 and eliminate it by 2027, the Chancellor announced.

Philip Hammond announced that local authorities will now have the authority to charge a 100 per cent council tax premium on empty properties.

He also raised the concerns about rough sleeping, saying: “It’s unacceptable that in 21st century Britain there are people sleeping on the streets.”

He said it “cannot be right” to leave properties empty “when so many are desperate for a place to live”.

Gary Turner, Service Operations Manager at Harp, Southend’s homeless charity, said: “We welcome the Government’s measures to reduce homelessness announced in the budget, and we agree with the Chancellor that it is absolutely unacceptable that people are sleeping rough in 2017. The changes to council tax on empty properties should mean that less homes stay empty, but fixing the housing crisis will take more than one or two headline announcements.

“It is encouraging to hear that the Government wishes to eradicate rough sleeping by 2027, something we have been striving to achieve in Southend with the help of our supporters for a number of years, though we would have expected a more ambitious target.

“We are particularly interested in the announcement of the Housing First pilots in the West Midlands, Manchester and Liverpool. Harp’s own Housing First projects in Southend have seen fantastic results.”