Oxford's chronic homelessness problem is among the worst in the country -- with more than 1,000 families living in temporary accommodation.

Although the number of families registered with Oxford City Council as homeless is dropping year-on-year, 17 in every 1,000 families in the city are homeless -- the highest rate outside inner city London and a problem costing about £4.5m a year.

Homelessness does not just include those sleeping rough, but families and individuals waiting for a council house, those ejected from homes by parents or landlords and those made homeless by events like house fires.

The average number of homeless families in England is 4.8 in every 1,000 while in the South East the figure is 3.9.

In the worst boroughs of London the figure is about 21 families per 1,000.

Today (March 16) the homeless charity Shelter, the city council's housing manager and Labour group leader said the only way to solve the problem was to build more homes.

Otherwise families would be crammed into bed and breakfasts, flats and shelters for years to come.

Council leader Alex Hollingsworth said: "The homelessness problem in Oxford remains huge.

"All other councils with similar levels are unitary authorities and have huge budgets.

"If you take what we spend on homelessness as a percentage of our budget it's somewhere between 15 and 20 per cent, whereas in a London borough it's two or three per cent.

"When it comes down to it, we can do lots to reduce the number of new homeless acceptances, but the fundamental problem is the shortage of housing -- it's a real struggle in the city.

"The drastic shortage of housing in Oxford is the biggest problem the city faces. As councillors we have to deal with individual tragedies that result from this shortage."

There are 8,000 council properties and 4,000 housing association properties in Oxford, but the council has a housing waiting list of more than 5,000, with only 600 or so properties becoming free each year.

The authority is also registering homeless as many as 400 people every year.

Dennis Boobier, the council's housing needs manager, said: "The big problem is that we don't have enough homes to get people moved on. There is not enough rented accommodation in Oxford.

"There will always be a level of homelessness, but the only way forward is to build more homes -- but for Oxford it's difficult because we have a boundary."

Adam Sampson, director of housing charity Shelter, added: "There is a huge problem of homelessness in Oxford -- it's a pretty stark crisis and one that can ultimately only be resolved by building more affordable homes."