A NEW strategy aimed at making things better for the homeless will go before Malvern Hills District Council's executive committee next week.

The first ever Homelessness Strategy and Review, which has been months in the making, will be used to try and broker a better deal for the 300 families who lose their homes in the area every year.

It pinpoints 75 targets for the next five years, to be tackled by the council working jointly with bodies including the police, housing associations and local charities, through a recently-formed Homeless Review Focus Group.

The report also identifies 16 key areas where there are gaps in services for those in danger of losing their homes.

"This is a ground-breaking document sets out the concept that homelessness is wrong because it excludes people from the mainstream of society," said Graham Myatt, the council's housing spokesman.

"As local property prices continue to rise, life is getting tougher for people on low incomes. We could solve this problem easily if money were no object, but unfortunately our resources are limited.

"Therefore, we have to look for new and imaginative ways of finding the type of affordable housing which will permit everyone to live with dignity in a place they are proud to call home."