THE number of homeless people in Basildon has dramatically dropped, new figures have revealed.

Last year, 236 people rang Basildon Council to say they had nowhere to live, compared with 432 people the year before.

Out of this number, the council had a duty to rehome 162 people, compared with 263 in 2008.

Council chiefs are putting the reduction down to the work of its homelessness team, which advises people about what they should do if they hit hard times.