STAFF at Essex University issued a desperate appeal for help for a student who was set to become homeless.

An email, seen by The Gazette, was sent out via a mass mailing list asking for ideas to support the student.

The request said the young man had just finished his resit examinations and was about to exhaust the maximum 28 night stay at Colchester’s homeless shelter.

He was facing being homeless until “the end of the month” whilst waiting for a longer-term placement in another hostel in the town.

The email said: “The council have no responsibility to house him as he does not fit the priority need criteria.

“Does anyone have any ideas about how he might access accommodation for the next few weeks?

“He received housing benefit for the hostel but would need to reapply for interim accommodation and this only covers shared accommodation. He does not have a deposit for private accommodation.”

A spokesman for the University of Essex said the case was an isolated incident and insisted support was available for students struggling financially.

Registrar Bryn Morris said: “The safety and wellbeing of our students is really important to us and any indication that our students are suffering this kind of hardship is of great concern to our university community.

“We would urge any student faced with homelessness to contact our Student Support team, where they can access immediate advice and assistance.

“Students experiencing severe financial difficulties might be entitled to financial support through our Hardship Fund for instance, and we can help them find emergency accommodation.”

After the facility’s intervention, the student is understood to have been been provided with help to find a medium-term stay with a charity which is supporting him moving forward.

New figures released this month by homeless charity Shelter show young people between the ages of 16 and 24 are disproportionately affected by homelessness.

People in this age group make up 21 per cent of applicants classed as homeless, but only 12 per cent of the general population.

Figures show last year there were 56,440 young people nationwide who became homeless or were threatened with homelessness.

Polly Neate, chief executive at Shelter, said: “During a year where Brexit negotiations have totally dominated the political agenda, catastrophic numbers of people have become homeless.

“While the housing crisis is out of the spotlight, families with young children are trapped in grim temporary accommodation like B&Bs and shipping containers.

“Young people feel the damaging effects of growing up in a housing emergency.”