A public shelter capable of accommodating hundreds of people will be set up in Tokyo during the New Year's holiday period, welfare minister Akira Nagatsuma said Tuesday.

Operated by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government with central government money, the shelter will be a substitute for the tent village set up last year by antipoverty groups in Hibiya Park, Nagatsuma said.

Free food will be available in the shelter, which will be located in the National Olympics Memorial Youth Center in Shibuya Ward, according to the metropolitan government.

Nagatsuma announced the plan at a news conference along with Makoto Yuasa, a 40-year-old activist who led last year's antipoverty campaign and has been made a Cabinet Office adviser in the Hatoyama administration.

"The difference from last year is that the administration is not pretending not to see the problem," Yuasa said.

The shelter will be open from next Monday afternoon to the morning of Jan. 4 for people who have lost their homes or jobs. The welfare ministry will provide consultations to help them find work.