Half the homeless people using St Patrick's are from outside the city

Brighton and Hove City Council has told St Patrick's Night Shelter in Hove that it no longer wants to support people who come from outside the city.

That would mean more than half the people using the 22-bed Cambridge Road would no longer be eligible.

"It is a totally bizarre argument - all of us move about all the time," said shelter founder, Father Alan Sharpe.

All-night cafe

"I would find it very difficult to say where I come from.

"I happen to be in Brighton at the moment, but who knows where I will be tomorrow?"

The shelter is run by the Church of England St Patrick's Trust charity.

The trust also runs a 29-bed hostel, an education and training centre and an all-night cafe.

The city council believes the shelter's dormitory system and men-only accommodation is out of date.

Raise funds

And it has told Fr Sharpe it does not believe Brighton and Hove's council tax payers should be supporting homeless people from elsewhere to the tune of �200,000 a year.

It said it would advise the trust on other ways to raise funds and hold talks so that no homeless person would be put out on to the streets.

Dave Bowes, from Middlesbrough, currently sleeping at the shelter, said it was not always an option for people to stay in their home town.

"Middlesbrough is full of gangs and drugs and I grew up in the worst sort of areas," he said,

"I want to get away from that and start my life afresh."