A £20,000 government grant is on its way to Salisbury to help "sofa surfers" find somewhere to live and train them for a job.

Sofa surfers are young people who have no secure home, who rely on friends or relatives to give them somewhere to sleep and who sometimes find themselves on the streets.

The cash is part of a £40,700 package announced by the Government to tackle youth homelessness in the south west and will be spent to appoint a worker who will support young people in Salisbury who are not receiving support from other agencies.

Andrew Reynolds, head of strategic housing with Salisbury District Council, said the council worked in partnership with the Alabaré Christian Care Centres and the Foyer project in Wilton Road to improve housing services for young people.

He said thanks to the grant the partners can now look at how they can support young people who do not have any housing, jobs or support.

Mr Reynolds said: "The money will mean we can extend the support that is already being given by Alabaré and the Foyer. There are about 30 to 40 sofa surfers in Salisbury, young people who have left home or who have been asked to leave home and who are staying with relatives or friends, moving from one property to another. They lead unsettled lives and this puts them at risk of a range of problems."

Mr Reynolds said the money will go towards appointing a worker to co-ordinate, assess and advise the youngsters.

There are around 45 young people being helped in Salisbury at the moment by Alabaré and the Foyer.

Mr Reynolds said: "This is slightly higher than elsewhere in Wiltshire but with the size of Salisbury's population, the number of young people regarded as homeless is about average with other parts of the country.

Nationally, figures show new cases of homelessness have dropped by 20 per cent in comparison to the same period last year and now stand at 1,210 - the lowest level since the early 1980s. However, last year more than a third of new cases of homelessness were young people aged under 25.

The Government aims to end the use of bed and breakfast for 16- and 17-year-olds by 2010.