SIR - The amount of homeless people here is a disgrace. We are about the seventh most wealthy country yet we have such a large contingent of homeless people, how they manage to keep alive is a wonder, and no doubt some of these people will have died in the inclement weather. A big thank you must go to charities supplying hot meals and a place for weary heads to rest.

Central government should be held to account, with the shambles of the Ministry of Works and Pensions and a national credit system that is not working in places it has been tried.

I also think councils have a role to play in this debacle. I recently wrote to the leader of Bradford Council saying the Jacob's Well building, a perfectly good building, could have been converted to accommodate the homeless in the same way that Wardley House was converted for students. I'm sure Government grants would have been made available for Jacob's Well, once occupied reasonable rents could have been paid. Why does the council think of demolition first?

Perhaps the T&A can obtain an answer as to why Jacob's Well building was not refurbished for use by the homeless of Bradford.

Harry Watson, Bittern Court, Clayton Heights