POLICE and charity chiefs are struggling to tackle a sharp rise in homelessness and alcohol-related crime in Truro.

The homeless shelter of St Petroc's Society opened its doors to offer beds throughout the winter for the first time this year.

And police said incidents of daytime drink-fuelled disorder and violence have quadrupled in the same period.

Charity bosses cite a lack of resources to target alcohol abuse as the root of the problem with street drinkers.

Truro police's Inspector Mark Richards said: "We've noticed an awful lot of homeless and street drinking people who have had significant assaults. Our suspicions are that there has been a lot of friction within the community."

The St Petroc's pilot programme this year offered people somewhere to stay throughout December and January. Previously the shelter only offered overnight facilities during sustained low temperatures. However, the shelter was forced to close its doors for a weekend for the first time ever when staff were unable to calm a woman with mental health problems.

Mr Richards said there had been 65 incidents of daytime street violence and antisocial behaviour over the past two months – about four times normal levels.

Steve Ellis, chief executive of St Petroc's, said homeless numbers were rising and a co-ordinated effort was needed to deal with the issue.

He said: "There are services for working people with drug or alcohol problems, but people who are drinking in the town are hardly going to be motivated to find somebody to help them. That's a gap within the services."

Mr Ellis said St Petroc's had 73 individuals through its doors since the beginning of December, with 18 successfully rehoused, reconnected with their family or moved into supported accommodation.

A spokesman for Cornwall Council said it was funding 20 "individualised budgets" for rough sleepers so outreach workers could put together individual support packages to address addictions.

The council said it "represented good value for money to provide a block service" to people sleeping on the streets in the winter months.

The spokesman said: "This was undertaken with the dual aim of protecting individuals and working with the entrenched rough sleeper who would normally resist service intervention, to offer a support service to them."

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