They have become as synonymous with Brighton and Hove as the piers or the pavilion.

The towns have always had a high number of rough sleepers who have often been bypassed by society and descended into the hell of drink and drug dependencies.

While the council and charities have struggled to help them over the years, the lack of a cohesive strategy has all too often seen initiatives and the best intentions fail to deliver.

Now all that is set to change with the Government pledging to reduce homelessness in the towns by at least two-thirds by 2002.

In July, the head of the Rough Sleepers' Unit, Louise Casey, visited the towns to mark the appointment the towns' Housing Tsar Helen Keats.

Although the Government claims the number of rough sleepers has fallen in the past year from 43 to 26, many are sceptical of the figures.

Ms Keats is well-qualified for the challenges she faces, having worked in Portsmouth to bring the number of rough sleepers down from 21 to four.

She said: "Our immediate aim is to bring the number of rough sleepers down. But we want to make sure they stay down, so we will be looking at long-term strategies as well. This may be about preventing homelessness by helping people who have been in prison to cook for themselves and budget. Or it may be about initiatives like community-based accommodation."

This week the Rough Sleepers' Unit announced it was ploughing £437,000 into fighting homelessness in the towns on top of the £1.8 million which was given last year.

Most of the new cash will be spent on general projects although some will be used to help homeless people with mental health, drug and alcohol problems.

One of the recipients of last year's payout was the St Patrick's Trust which runs a night shelter and hostel in Cambridge Road, Hove.

The group set up the hostel, which has places for 29 people, with £1.2 million of the cash and £800,000 of its own money.

People can stay at the hostel for six to nine months to be equipped with the skills to help them stay off the streets. The night shelter people has 22 places where people can be fed and given a bed.

Father Alan Sharpe, who runs the trust, said: "The figures are beginning to fall a bit, but it's very hard to do head counts and how do you know you've got everybody? After all, there are so many nooks and crannies in Brighton and Hove.

"We are full every night and we do occasionally turn people away if we have to. It's easy to take people off the streets and give them a roof but that's only part of the problem.

"The local authority and Government have got their eye on the ball more. We are looking at the basis of homelessness and, if we do that, we will get people off the streets and they won't return. The money has made an impact with the introduction of a number of outreach workers."

It is too early to say where the new money is going, although a Government spokesman said the trust and other recipients of the earlier windfall could benefit.

Father Alan has applied to the Government for a grant which would allow the trust to open a learning resource centre for homeless people.

He believes education is a vital part of the long-term strategy and would help people who get off the streets to stay off the streets.

He said: "Education is the key to most things and, if people have missed out on a basic education, they need an opportunity to bring them back into it.

"We ran a six-month pilot scheme with Brighton College of Technology and I was amazed at how well it went. Schemes like this open up opportunities for people."

Father Alan is convinced that further initiatives can only bring positive results and believes "sheltered businesses", which would provide unemployment for the homeless, could be the next step.

He said: "If people come off the streets and then don't have any money coming in they are in a very difficult situation. Ending up in a room behind Brighton station is not much of an incentive."

Gwen May, of the Big Issue Foundation in Brighton, said she was at the charity's offices when the news of the drop came through on the radio.

She said: "The office was full of our vendors who just laughed and laughed at them because they know the reality. The problem with this count is that a lot of homeless people are out of sight."

Neil Ansell, of the Big Issue, said on the night of the count a further 15 people were sleeping in a derelict house in Brighton.

He added: "The Rough Sleepers' Unit has done some sterling work but we did a survey of vendors and found 33 people sleeping rough and that figure would probably be higher now."

Pat Murphy, lead councillor for housing management, said the new figures were encouraging but nobody could afford to be complacent. He added: "The trend is definitely downwards and the figure for people sleeping rough is almost half what it was not so long ago.

"We have been lobbying the Government for years to deal with a very fundamental problem and it has been by working with other organisations that we are being successful.

"The problem stems from us being unable to build affordable housing for years. The right-to-buy scheme took housing away from the public sector and made it extremely difficult to place people desperately in need of accommodation.

"St Patrick's is a good example of how you rehabilitate people because you can't take someone out of a shop doorway and just place them in a flat. There are all sorts of life-skills they need to learn."