The homeless are easily forgotten. As drivers scraped the ice off their windscreens this morning, few would have given a thought to the human beings who had also endured a night out in the sub-zero temperatures.

Most of us have only our consciences pricked when we see a figure huddled in a shop doorway. Even then, doubts remain as to whether their plight is genuine. Only last month York police labelled the vast majority of beggars as "cheats" who had homes to go to.

York is a tourist city, and where there are tourists, beggars will follow. These are skilled freeloaders whose aim is to fleece tourists and residents for whatever they can get.

Unfortunately, as a spokeswoman for charity Shelter once put it, their actions give the real homeless a bad name.

We owe a debt of gratitude, therefore, to those people who choose neither to ignore the homeless, nor to tar them with the same brush as professional beggars. Instead, they see the genuine need and do their best to meet it.

One of the leading campaigners for the cause is the Reverend Paul Wordsworth. Mr Wordsworth has long worked to help those who have no choice but to sleep on the streets. As co-ordinator of York Churches Action for Homeless People - now York Arclight - he opened a shelter at St Martin-cum-Gregory in Micklegate last year.

Now he is promoting another pioneering scheme. He wants to open an emergency night shelter in York to provide a roof over the head of every homeless person in the city.

It is a very worthwhile cause. The Peasholme Centre has been doing excellent work for several years. But staff there are not able to guarantee a place at short notice. And when its doors are closed for the night, they do not reopen until the morning.

The new night shelter would complement the Peasholme Centre. Any homeless person will be able to turn up and find a bed there for the night ahead before it closes at 8am.

The site for the shelter, on Foss Islands Road, is away from residential accommodation. That will negate local opposition. So only one obstacle remains: money.

It could open for four months a year with funding from the urban churches fund. But to open all year round it needs Government cash.

If Tony Blair is serious about it being "good to do good", then his administration should come up with the cash for such an excellent cause.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.