Rotterdam hopes to have cleared the streets of the homeless by the end of the year. Three years ago, the council started relocating people sleeping rough and has, so far, found accommodation for over 2700 of the city's estimated 2900 homeless.

Council workers expect dealing with the last couple of hundred people will prove a problem because making contact with some will be difficult. Nearly 50 percent of those who have been taken from the street are said to live in stable situations where their drugs or alcohol problems are under control.

Each year, about 80 difficult cases are referred to an institution in Hummelo in Gelderland in the east of the Netherlands. There, they receive support and are given work experience.

photo: Homeless in Holland (flickr/photos/roel1943)