BY accident the photographer calls it a hotel, and it's easy to see why. Huge kitchens, trendy wooden floors, bedrooms with fridges and new furniture, and comfy lounge areas with TV. Cleaners patrol the corridors and there's talk of adding a small gym.

At the same time Newport's only homeless hostel, in Pill, is an institution with magnolia walls, project workers and CCTV everywhere. It's managed by Councillor Paul Cockeram.

The 20 beds accommodate homeless people for two to three months before they are moved on into homes and even jobs, back into the system most left because of drugs or family problems.

Rachel Henley, 18, of Caerleon, said: "My mum died and I left home two months ago. I slept a few days in cardboard boxes and bins until I found out about the hostel.

"I'm looking at a house in Malpas soon, and I've had training to be a hairdresser."

Next door, David Swain, 57, of Newport, who used to have a steady factory job, said: "I've been here a fortnight and it's OK. I was staying at a friend's but we fell out.

"I'm here because I've got a drink problem. I'd start every morning with a flagon, but I've cut down now."

It costs £150 a week for a bed in the hostel run by Glamorgan and Gwent Housing Trust. Most of that money is covered by housing benefit, and a top-up of around £8 is taken from the claimant's income support.

Without the centre most residents could be on the streets, with less safety, far less chance of getting help and more temptation to get into crime.

Several other organisations in Newport help the homeless: Church-linked organisation Caring Hands, the Salvation Army, drugs treatment centre Kaleidoscope and the Big Issue.

Round the corner from the hostel is Newport Action Single Homeless (NASH), where clients are encouraged to take courses in art and music. Richard Frame, director of NASH, said it was also sn important thing for clients to adopt "normal" routines - waking up in the morning and spending the day at the shelter, rather than rising in the afternoon and staying up all night.

With the hostel nearby, a six-bed night shelter in Abergavenny (train ticket paid for) and spaces in Cardiff, Mr Frame believes rough sleepers can nearly always get a bed.

He said: "I don't give to beggars any more, I ask them if they know about NASH.

"Substance abuse is a problem, and begging or selling the Big Issue are better than crime.

"Most heroin addicts have a habit of £60 to £100 a day. In order to feed that you would have to steal four or five times that value." Vendors buy The Big Issue for 60p from the Newport branch office, and sell it for whatever they can.

A vendor has to be "vulnerable homeless", which can include rough sleepers, hostel residents and those who have recently moved into their own home, and they are supposed to claim earnings against benefits. A seller recently told the Argus that on a good day he could make £100, but typically sold much less.

Local authorities are obliged to consider anyone who asks for housing. But if the case isn't a priority, or the applicant owes money to another authority, or is from outside the area, then the process can be very slow. Anti-social behaviour laws give another excuse to deny housing, although the Assembly and the government are doing a lot to tackle homelessness, Mr Frame said.

He added: "There's been confusion for a long time about homelessness, rough sleeping and street culture.

"Substance abuse and mental health get thrown in and it's difficult for the public to understand. I was horrified when I once saw three men on a night out urinating on a beggar in Newport. He just sat there."

It's his hope that in another decade characters such as Rachel and David will have become a far less common sight.