I FOUND your recent article on homelessness somewhat disingenuous.

Page one: "A homeless drug addict who shoplifts to fund his £100-a-day habit." He said that "he wants to break free from his addiction in 2004."

He further said that not enough was being done to help people like him off the streets. Well he would say those things, wouldn't he?

The article continues by talking to organisers of the Christmas Care shelter at the Queen's Drive Methodist Hall.

"Organisers of the Christmas Care shelter ... say providing more permanent beds for rough sleepers could cut crime in the town." It quotes one of the committee members as saying: "It would also stop a lot of street crime." But would it?

The committee member is further quoted: "People are nicking to fund a habit."

Exactly so. They aren't stealing because they lack shelter.

A Swindon solicitor reckons that the majority of 1,000 home burglaries and 200 street robberies are carried out to feed drug addiction.

How do the people running the shelter feel knowing that those they help may well be thieves? And how do they propose to convince the public to contribute the funds required to provide shelters?

"Please give generously. We want to offer a place of refuge to those people who might have robbed you in the past or may well do so in the future."

L SARGENT

Swindon