I see people sleeping in doorways when I go to work in the morning and just think 'where did it all go wrong?'

“It's sad to see it,” said one local man. “I walked through this morning in my ambulance uniform and I saw people sleeping in the doorways and you just look and think, where did it all go wrong to be honest with you?”

“So, I think it's gotten worse because the population has increased,” added another woman. “I also think there's mismanagement in government overspending. That's very political and I don't know all the facts.”

A third person commented: “I think everybody is not just here. It's all over, innit?”

The homelessness and rough sleeping strategy has been developed with input from residents, frontline organisations and those with lived experience.It's focused on prevention, early support and improving access to safe, sustainable housing.

The council says its new approach will stop people becoming homeless in the first place, improve access to advice and wraparound support, strengthen partnerships with charities, the NHS and housing providers and increase the supply of temporary homes that keep people connected to jobs, schools and support networks.

The council will look to procure more suitable, temporary and move-on accommodation to replace the current reliance on B&Bs and hotels, which are often expensive and unsuitable for people in crisis.

“Another five-year plan, so it's probably someone else's idea that's probably already been done,” said one member of the public. “I've grown up here in the 60s, 15 years after the Second World War and we had like nothing and now I feel like we've got supposedly everything in society and yet you've got people who have got like nothing, nothing.

“But I don't like to see the people on the streets and another five-year plan. They've already had a five-year plan over the last five years and they had another five-year plan before that, so let's hope something works this time.”

“I don't think they care,” said another. “Not unless they do something with structures that they've got.”

The proposed changes are intended to give families and individuals more stable places to live while long-term housing solutions are found, which will see the council work closer with private sector partners to provide permanent homes.

“What I feel is really, really, really not used is the resources all around us,” said one person. “We've got Grade 1, Grade 2 listed beautiful buildings. Skilled trades could come in, volunteer potentially, get these beautiful wasted buildings up and running and then they could be facilitated.”

“People want jobs,” said another. “Give them jobs doing them up.”

The council says this new strategy is not just about saving money, it's about delivering better outcomes for people in crisis and rebuilding lives.