A NEW city centre hub has opened in an effort to help the city council reduce rough sleeping this winter.

The new unit has been built inside New Road Baptist Church in Bonn Square and is open as part of a pilot between 10am and 4pm on Mondays, Tuesday and Wednesdays .

It has been opened as a space for the St Mungo’s outreach team to assess the needs of and engage with rough sleepers.

The city council said it is recruiting a specialist housing options officers so the hub can be a place people can get assessments and housing advice.

Money is coming from the Government’s Rough Sleeper Initiative (RSI) grant, which is given to councils with high rates of rough sleeping.

The city council was awarded £503,000 in funding for this year and another £511,000 has been provisionally awarded for 2019/20.

Linda Smith, the deputy leader of Oxford City Council and board member for leisure and housing, said: “Oxford City Council is committed to working with partners to deliver our vision that nobody should have to sleep rough on the streets of Oxford.

“St Mungo’s will be working in the hub with our staff and other services to make sure more rough sleepers get the accommodation and support they need to rebuild their lives.”

She added: “RSI funding is only temporary and we need the Government to make a commitment to fund desperately-needed services for longer than the next two winters if it is serious about ending homelessness.

“The RSI grant means we’re spending more than £2m this year tackling rough sleeping and it will make a real difference. But this is only a start.”

The council believes about 36 people are sleeping rough in the city.

Sue Jackson, Oxford outreach manager at St Mungo’s, said: “Rough sleeping is harmful and dangerous and people can end up on the streets for a number of interconnecting reasons. These include problems with physical or mental health, relationship breakdown or loss of a job.”