Council set to approve actions on temporary accommodation

The cabinet will be asked at the next meeting on July 10 to approve a range of actions to reduce the rapidly rising number of homeless households needing to be placed in temporary accommodation and to mitigate the financial cost to the council.

Temporary accommodation is typically used as interim accommodation when households become homeless while they are supported to find a long-term home.

The rate of homelessness in Oxford over the last 18 months has significantly increased.

This is in line with national trends as the cost-of-living crisis, high interest rates and rising rents have contributed to evictions from the private rented sector.

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There has also been a large rise in the number of vulnerable single adults awarded priority need for housing.

The council currently owns and manages 134 properties used as temporary accommodation, but these are no longer enough to meet demand.

At the end of 2023/24 there were 246 Oxford households in temporary accommodation an increase of 128 per cent compared to two years ago.

When there is no other option, the council must place households in budget hotels or bed and breakfasts.

Two years ago two households were in this kind of accommodation, but at the end of 2023/24 the number stood at 123.

Housing in Oxford (Image: Oxford City Council)

Hotels can be a difficult living environment, especially for families, and they involve significant expense for the council.

The council is projected to overspend up to £3.2 million per annum despite a huge amount of work being done to keep costs down.

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Further action to reduce the use of hotels and control the costs is now being proposed by Cabinet Member for Housing and Communities Councillor Linda Smith.

These include a new ‘Private Sector Leasing Scheme’ where the council will rent homes from landlords to use as temporary accommodation, potential ‘meanwhile’ use of buildings which are close to the end of their viable life to be used as temporary accommodation ahead of redevelopment, and longer term capital investment to increase the number of council owned properties which can be held by the council for use as temporary accommodation.

Councillor Smith said: “Government failure on housing and the economy has led to the number of households being made homeless in Oxford going through the roof.

"It’s a desperate situation and the city council has been left to pick up the pieces while families suffer.

"We need more rights for renters including a ban on ‘no fault’ evictions and we need more homes to be built, including more government support for councils like ours doing our best to build more of the truly affordable homes for social rent that Oxford is most in need of.”