Cameron vows to fight homelessness

David Cameron has called the presence of the homeless in modern British society "a disgrace" at the launch of the Conservative Party's Homelessness Foundation.

"I think that it is simply a disgrace that in the fifth-biggest economy in the world that we have people homeless, people sleeping on the streets, sofa-surfers, people in hospitals," Mr Cameron said.

"I want the Conservative party to get back to its roots. It should be as concerned with a good society as with a good economy, being a progressive party dealing with poverty and helping with disadvantage."

Mr Cameron's solution focused mostly on forging closer links with voluntary sector but he also spoke of looking at the root causes of homelessness such as poverty, employment and mental illness.

The Homelessness Foundation includes John Bird, founder of the Big Issue and Shelter's chief executive, Adam Sampson.

But the government's housing secretary, Caroline Flint, said Mr Cameron's warm words were meaningless because his party had refused to support Labour's house building targets.