Homeless in Oxford moved into YHA youth hostel

A total of 94 homeless people have been housed there and at a block of flats on Cowley Road.

They were originally given emergency accommodation at the height of the coronavirus pandemic.

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Now Oxford City Council says it is giving them 'more settled interim housing' at the YHA on Botley Road, near the station, and at Canterbury House on Cowley Road.

It said 57 of the rough sleepers had been moved from hotel and student rooms in the past fortnight.

The council has secured a total of 124 rooms of 'interim housing' for the next year.

Canterbury House and the YHA provide 76 and 42 rooms of self-contained accommodation respectively.

A further six rooms are available in a block already leased from University College for people displaying symptoms of coronavirus – so far, this has not been needed.

Interim housing is a bridge between emergency housing and more sustainable housing. The council said it would help to 'provide the intensive personal support that helps more people off the streets for good'.

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A total of 225 people have been housed in hotel and student rooms in Oxford since the Government issued an ‘everyone in’ direction on March 26.

Of these, 84 have been supported into more permanent housing and this includes a number of people who had been sleeping rough on a long term basis.

Interim housing will also allow the council to provide accommodation and support for people who become homeless over the coming months. This will include winter beds that were provided in shared spaces before the pandemic.

The city’s outreach team, run by St Mungo’s, will continue to support and work with people who have continued to sleep rough during the pandemic with ongoing offers of accommodation and help.

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St Mungo’s is also managing the interim housing as well as providing outreach, assessment and support services for the council.

Councillor Mike Rowley, cabinet member for affordable housing and housing the homeless, said: “Lockdown gave us a unique opportunity to engage with people in emergency accommodation and interim housing will now provide a bridge to more sustainable housing. Nobody should have to sleep rough in Oxford and interim housing means we’ll also be able to keep offering housing and support to people who become homeless over the coming months.”