The number of households classed as homeless in Wales rose 10% in the year to June 2010, latest figures show.

Shelter Cymru said it was seriously concerned about the impact of mortgage and rent arrears on homelessness.

It has called for a Welsh Assembly Government scheme, which helped families meet mortgage payments, to be widened.

The assembly government said the scheme was an emergency measure applied only during the recession.

It said it had to narrow eligibility for the scheme after funds were exhausted.

Eligibility was limited after it became a "victim of its own success", Shelter Cymru said.

There were 1,467 households accepted as homeless in Wales by local authorities, according to the Office for National Statistics [ONS].

The rise in number was largely driven by an increase in those people who lost accommodation that was tied to a job, or occupants who were required by a landlord to leave a rented property.

Housing charity Shelter Cymru said it had seen a big increase in the number of queries it received relating to mortgage arrears.

"The proportion of mortgage repossession cases handled by Shelter Cymru advisers has trebled over the last three to four years," said Ceri Dunstan, from the charity.

Shelter said it was concerned that welfare and public sector cuts would lead to a reversal in a recent decline of homelessness due to mortgage repossessions.

Of course, local authorities have a duty to house the homeless. The only problem with that is the attitude of some authorities is terrible. For example, a housing officer for the now defunct Carrick District Council said that in some cases it was cheaper for the Council to pay the fine for not housing someone than it was to house them, so they would just pay the fine, leaving the person homeless.