Thousands of commuters make their daily journeys into Oxford city centre, and most don’t even notice the people sheltering in a shop door or down an alley trying to stay warm.

“They just see a homeless person, they don’t see the individual,” is a phrase used by many of those just about surviving on our streets.

“Being homeless isn’t a choice, it is caused by something which has happened in someone’s life,” another man adds.

And this is before funding cuts of £1.5m take their toll on this city’s homeless services.

With winter setting in, it has been estimated by people on the streets that up to 100 people are sleeping outdoors in and around the city each night.

A former Didcot Power Station worker, who wanted to remain anonymous, told the Oxford Mail how he was homeless six years on and off.

The 52-year-old said the funding cuts, which will see Simon House and Julian Housing ‘decommissioned’ by April 2018 were ‘ridiculous’, adding ‘it should not be happening in this day and age’.

He said: “What are the people who are homeless going to do now?

“Being homeless isn’t a choice, it’s caused by something which has happened in someone’s life. People think it’s a choice, it’s not. It’s just circumstances.”

The man points to another person asleep in a sleeping bag in Cornmarket Street.

“You see that guy over there?” he said. “He doesn’t want to do that. He doesn’t want to sleep there.”

The Big Issue seller said the reason he ended up homeless was after a relationship break down.

He added: “I used to drink and do drugs but on Saturday I will have been clean for two years. I woke up on November 26, 2014, and just thought ‘I’ve had enough of it all’.

“I am determined that it will never happen again to me. I never will go down that road again. It was a life of hell.”

His comments came as support workers, politicians and people sleeping rough warned a homeless ‘epidemic’ would hit the city.

After the decision to axe Simon House and Julian Housing accommodation due to slashed council budgets, fears have been raised that the homeless will simply have nowhere to go.

A rise in crime, drug abuse, alcoholism and the number of people sleeping in tents and shop doors has been forecast – with no concrete solution to prevent it.

Despite the county council, all five district councils, and the Oxfordshire Clinical Commissioning Group chipping in to provide £2.94m until 2019 – 154 out of 286 beds across the county will be still be scrapped.

Busker Neo said he has made it his goal to help the homeless on the streets.

He said the system to get reduce homelessness was a ‘revolving circle’ due people’s mental health issues and addictions not getting dealt with and treated.

The 44-year-old, also added more communication between councils and charities was needed to form a joined-up approach to prevent people falling through the gaps.

He said: “Most of these guys have been housed before and have come back onto the streets.

“It’s because of the issues that they face, which were the reasons they ended up on the streets in the first place, have not be dealt with.

“I know most of people’s stories and why they become homeless. It seems like they go through the system to just tick a box. People are not looking inside the individual, looking at their mental health, their drug, alcohol issues.

“There might be 10 people with drug issues. That doesn’t mean you can deal with those 10 people in the same way.

“And without doing that, it is only inevitable they are going to end up back on the streets again. People need a purpose, something to aim for. After- care is so important.”

Neo spoke of one drug addict who received his housing benefit directly to pay his  landlord. Instead of paying it, the cash went to feed his drug habit. Housing benefit is no longer paid directly to landlords.

Another Big Issue seller said he was living in Julian Housing accommodation in Abingdon.

He added: “I have five children and a wife. I have been homeless for two years. I do not smoke and I do not drink. I just hope to God.”

A MAN who lives on the streets said Oxford was a ‘victim of its own success’ in providing services for the homeless.

He told the Oxford Mail because there were more shelters in the county compared to other cities nearby, homeless people were attracted here.

He said he thought about 10 per cent of the homeless had been born in Oxford.

He added: “You do not get services for the homeless in Leeds, Coventry and places like Birmingham.

“But because you get the services such as the night shelters here, people come here.”