The charity says Christmas is a hard time for homeless people

Centrepoint, which has 16 hostels in London, needs to raise more than �200,000 in the next 10 days to accommodate 600 people over Christmas.

To reach the target, the Countdown to Christmas Appeal needs to raise a further �4,000 per day.

The first Centrepoint shelter was set up on 16 December 1969 in the basement of a Soho church, in central London.

Chief executive of Centrepoint Anthony Lawton said he was "confident" the charity would reach its target.

He said: "There are too many homeless people but in particular there are too many homeless young people.

"All of them, one way or another, are on a downward spiral and what we are doing is helping them build some foundations.

"Christmas is a time when it's particularly poignant for people, if they haven't got a home, or they've got problems about relationships with home, and it's a time when it looks as though other people have got a home, so it's particularly poignant."

Donations can be made via the charity's website.