Voices is the Dorset Echo's weekly youth page - written for young people by young people from across the country.

This week Becca encourages us to acknowledge people who are homeless.

A sleeping bag tucked around a cold body.

Blankets crowded in the grimy corner sheltered from the rain.

Cold hands reaching out, exhausted voices whimpering for help - yet we just walk by.

320,000 people are classified as homeless in Britain. That is one in every 200 citizens who are stuck in temporary accommodation or living on the streets.

For some perhaps it is a choice but for most there is no option.

The main cause of homelessness in this country is the ending of an assured shorthold tenancy, and the tenant then being unable to find anywhere else to live (according to Shelter, a leading homeless refuge in the UK).

Shelter are trying to solve lax tenancy laws in order to combat this issue.

In the South west of England of England alone there are 29,591 people who are homeless.

The highest number of these were recorded in Weymouth, one of Dorset’s own cities.

We are an affluent area, so how is it acceptable that a significant amount of our population are without a basic necessity?

It is not just donations which help organisations such as Shelter, volunteers and campaigners are also vital to help invisible people be seen.

But next time you walk by someone who is homeless remember - a fiver, a signature or even just a smile could make the difference between an existence and a life.

By Becca Sebire