In spite of assurances by government, rough sleeping by homeless people is still a significant problem in Britain's towns and cities say campaigners, following a head count in the nation's capital.

A new website called 'Faith in Affordable Housing' is being launched today at Church House Westminster, headquarters of the Church of England.It aims to help churches use land and property to meet housing needs.

Housing Justice, the churches housing campaign, is encouraging UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown to move quickly to allow local councils to build more homes to meet urgent needs.

St Martin-in-the-Fields Church in London and campaigning network Housing Justice will next week hold an Annual Service of Commemoration for those homeless people who have died in the capital in the past year.

In the inaugural Housing Justice lecture, the charity's chief executive Alison Gelder has spoken of the need to change the values of society so that we think of houses as homes rather than assets.

In the early hours of Tuesday 9 September 2008, volunteers from Christian charity Housing Justice counted 206 people sleeping rough in the London Borough of Westminster - highlighting the continuing seriousness of the problem.

Church agencies in Britain will be combining efforts during Poverty and Homelessness Action Week, from 26 January to 3 February, to highlight both the human face of inequality and the need to make it a public policy priority.