THESE depressing pictures show the grim reality of life for hundreds of Liverpool's homeless people.
Desperate men and women turn up at the city's YMCA on Mount Pleasant in search of shelter for the night.
The six-storey building is falling to pieces - tiles are missing, buckets catch drips from leaky ceilings and there are holes in the floor.
Its shocking state illustrates the kind of woeful facilities that led an independent report to brand Liverpool council's accommodation for the homeless as "like workhouses from the 1910s".
Parts of the 1860 neo-gothic style building have been closed because of health and safety reasons and, despite the best efforts of the 48 staff, it is a grim home for 115 men and women.
Liverpool council has 1,000 places elsewhere in the city to house the homeless.
Yesterday we revealed how council officials wasted money from a £46m government grant set up to help people including the homeless.
An inspection by government spending watchdog the audit commission highlighted how the fund had been wasted and mis-spent by the council.
The report stated: "Some services for homeless people are in poor physical condition and have been described as being like the workhouses of the 1910s.
"One in particular is in dire need of redecorating, comfortable furnishings, decent equipment and support for the staff.
"But at the time of the inspection no such support was forthcoming.
"As a result staff morale is low and is being manifested in stress-related sick leave."
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