Jamie, a well-educated, articulate 28-year-old Cornishman, nurtures ambitions of returning to college to study arboriculture. But just now, he finds himself closer to the trees than he would like – living in a tent in the woods.

"It does get very, very cold out there," he said. "And a bit lonely. I feel a long way from civilisation and, I suppose, a long way from society. I feel I've fallen through the net, and I'm not sure how I'm going to get back."

Jamie is one of scores, perhaps hundreds, of people sleeping rough in the far south-west of England. New figures from the Department for Communities and Local Government show that Cornwall is the local authority with the second largest number of rough sleepers in England (65), behind Westminster in central London.

Some experts who work with homeless people believe there could be four times that number and are worried there could be a further "explosion" of people sleeping in Cornish woods, barns, on beaches and in shop doorways when job losses and cuts to services designed to help homeless people really begin to bite.

Last week, Jamie was to be found at a soup kitchen at the United Reformed church in Newquay, a few minutes' walk from the resort's surfing beaches.

He took to the woods after finding it difficult to live with his family or other people and finding it almost impossible to find affordable accommodation. "I can get aggressive – verbally rather than physically – and I've had problems with heroin in the past. I found it hard to find a permanent place where I could live by myself, so I set up camp in the woods."

He has a sleeping bag, a couple of blankets and a Primus stove and depends on people's generosity for the little money he has to buy food and for bus fares to allow him to get to whichever soup kitchen is open. "I feel a bit nomadic. I would like to settle somewhere, but it just feels too hard for me at the moment."

As dusk falls and the surfers head for home, Stan is searching for a place to bed down. He is a 42-year-old former soldier who says he has struggled after leaving the army and has hitched down to Cornwall after spending a few months on the streets in London. "I reckoned it's quieter down here – easier to stay safe and just get on. All I want to do is exist. I don't really want a place to live permanently. I would like to work but it's hard when you haven't got a proper address to get settled."

Also looking for a place to camp are Rhys and Chris, both 29. They have just arrived in Cornwall from north Wales and are hoping to get work for the summer. Until they do they will use the soup kitchen at the United Reformed church and camp on the cliff or beach. "We're confident we will find work," said Rhys. "Meanwhile, we'll just live in our tent."

Judy Selby-Boothroyd, resettlement worker at The New Connection, which runs a drop-in centre and Cornwall's only night shelter in Camborne, is not surprised at Cornwall's place near the top of the rough-sleeping table. She feels the county's social problems are often forgotten. "People tend to think of Cornwall as a nice place to come on holiday," she said. "But we have big challenges such as a lack of affordable accommodation – partly because of the number of second homes here – and rural poverty."

Selby-Boothroyd said that if homeless people who are "sofa surfing" or living in squats were counted in the rough-sleeping figures the number could be three or four times the official count.

Most rough sleepers seen by The New Connection are young and male, and many have drug, alcohol or mental health problems. Some are ex-prisoners, and an increasing number of former service personnel are being dealt with.

Most have Cornish connections, though others, such as Stan, travel from "up country" in search of a warmer climate, a safer place to sleep outdoors or an alternative lifestyle.

Some seem to cope better than others. Jason, 28, said he had bedded down in places ranging from parks to an old tin mine. "Some nights when it rains it's hard to get dry. Other times it's OK. You get by, you survive. I had to move from home after a family argument."

Though there are fewer women sleeping rough, those who do are often very vulnerable. Victoria, 29, is staying in The New Connection night shelter after spending a terrifying time camping out alone in the grounds of a Cornish college. "It was too scary. I would wake at the slightest rustling sound. I didn't feel safe," she said.

She and her partner had slept in the tent for a couple of months after he was evicted from his flat. They survived on £30 a week, ate only sandwiches and sausage rolls, and did not shower for those eight weeks. When they fell out, she was left alone.

John Coventry, principal of Cosgarne Hall in St Austell, which provides supported accommodation, said the picture was a depressing one.

He is frustrated that Cornwall council has just cut its supporting people budget by 40%. Among the workers who will lose their posts are those who helped find homes for rough sleepers – and kept them there. The council says it has to make tough decisions on cuts but is working hard to find ways of helping homeless people.

Steve Ellis, the chief executive of St Petroc's Society, which supports the single homeless, said he believed the numbers of people living rough are about to soar because of the cuts and job losses. "Experience tells us that in tough economic times the number of homeless people increases," he said. "The anxiety is that by this time next winter the figures will explode."

Housing in Cornwall

The popularity of the far south-west as a tourist destination makes it increasingly difficult for a Cornish person to buy their own home. It is estimated that one in 20 houses and flats in Cornwall is a second home. Cornwall council says the average house price in the county is £227,000.

The authority estimates that the income needed to buy a starter home is just under £40,000 a year. The average salary is around £20,000.

There are 17,500 people on the housing waiting list in Cornwall and the number of new affordable homes built between July and September last year was just 154. The average rent for a three-bedroomed house is £154 a week.

The problem has grown over the last decade. In the Restormel area – which includes Newquay in the north and St Austell in the south – the average property cost £72,000 in 1999, according to the National Housing Federation. By 2009, this had increased to almost £200,000 – an increase of 175%. In the same period, salaries went up by less than 50%.

The figure released by the DCLG that suggested Cornwall had 65 rough sleepers was based on a month-long survey of day centres, soup kitchens and officials who deal with the homeless.

According to the report, London had 415 rough sleepers. The borough of Westminster recorded 128, followed by Kensington and Chelsea (32), Southwark (29) and the City of London (20). There were 1,768 rough sleepers in England overall, according to the survey.