A new "Tsar" is to be appointed to tackle homelessness in Oxford.

The city is one of several to have a "beggars supremo" to spearhead the drive against sleeping rough.

The £60m plan, to be announced this week, was drawn up by the Government's social exclusion unit and aims to cut homelessness by two-thirds in three years. London has the biggest problem, but Oxford is one of several other cities to be targeted, with possibly as much as £30,000 being spent locally.

The new initiative, which will be in place by March, comes as a new study by housing charity Shelter estimates 2,000 people sleep rough in England on any given night.

Oxford's Lord Mayor Carole Roberts, former chairman of the city's housing committee, said: "There's a very good voluntary network who work with the homeless in Oxford. We are concerned about young people who are on the street.

"It's not just homelessness, it's also mental health, drug and alcohol dependency, and the problem needs lots of different answers."

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