Some 400 people a year end up homeless, some temporarily, and in a situation where they are forced to seek shelter, according to statistics gleaned from voluntary organisations.

Speaking at a conference organised by the Anti Poverty Forum, social worker Bryan Magro explained that the statistics were taken from shelters and excluded the elderly, disabled people and children.

Forum chairman Saviour Grima explained that the problem of homelessness was an invisible but a very real one, caused by a variety of complex factors such as substance abuse, domestic violence, prison and a high rent or a lease which has run out.

Others, he pointed out, had a literal roof over their heads but lacked so many basic amenities or lived in such overcrowded conditions that they could not be considered to live in a home.  

Mgr Victor Zammit McKeon, director of Ejjew Għandi, the Church agency for children's residential homes, pointed out that there were not enough professional care assistants who looked after minors in institutions.

“Often enough, the problem is not the children but the staff. They wouldn’t know how to handle the children’s challenging behaviour because they are not professionals and you end up in a situation where it’s hard to get to the bottom of an incident.

“Please let us not open up more homes if we cannot find professionals to care for the children.”

President Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca expressed concern that a large number of homeless people were youths who had either just come out of prison or from out-of-home care.

A quarter of the population was living in poverty or at risk of poverty, she added, appealing to politicians to introduce a social wage for those on the minimum wage who are not making ends meet.