Oxford City Council’s housing service has been recognised as one of the UK’s best for its efforts to prevent homelessness and rough sleeping.
The Housing Needs team has been shortlisted in the Housing category at the LGC Awards 2025, which celebrate excellence and innovation in local government.
The Council has reorganised this service to put preventing homelessness at the heart of its work – with a 241% increase in homelessness prevention in the last two years alone.
Context
In recent years the cost of living and record – and rising – private rents have helped fuel a sharp rise in homelessness and spiralling demand for temporary accommodation across the country.
In Oxford, this has meant a 128% rise in the number of households requiring homelessness support in just three years. At the end of 2023/24, there were 246 households in temporary accommodation in the city – including 123 households in hotels – and the Council was placing more than 10 households a week in temporary accommodation.
Key results
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241% increase in homelessness prevention over two years
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More than 100 successful lets into the private rented sector
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On track to double temporary accommodation provision by providing a pipeline of 200 new homes
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One of the leading Housing First programmes in the country
Preventing homelessness
Service reorganisation and recruiting extra staff means the Council has been able to work holistically to prevent homelessness as early as possible - particularly from the private rented sector and to support people under threat of eviction by family and friends.
This work includes home visits for prevention cases and a dedicated officer to mediate with landlords to prevent eviction.
The Council also works with other public sector bodies to prevent homelessness. For example, its £1.8 million partnership with the Berkshire, Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Integrated Care Service provides a nationally recognised “out of hospital” model for preventing homelessness for people being discharged from hospital.
Providing more temporary accommodation and improving move-on
The Council has secured a pipeline of 200 homes for temporary accommodation to reduce the human and financial cost of relying on hotels. As a housing authority with nearly 8,000 homes, this includes using its own stock more flexibly to provide temporary accommodation and move people on into a settled home more quickly.
A focus on rapid rehousing also means the Council has been able to help more than 100 households a year access private rented housing through different landlord schemes - including an innovative rent guarantee scheme.
Preventing rough sleeping
The Council is the main funder of the Oxfordshire Homelessness Alliance, a unique partnership between local government, NHS and the voluntary sector which aims to prevent and reduce rough sleeping across the county. The Alliance brings together most outreach, accommodation and prevention services in a system-wide approach to tackling homelessness.
Oxford is a national leader in Housing First, which provides a permanent home as the first step away from life on the streets rather than as the destination of a journey through stages of supported housing. Wraparound support is then provided to help people maintain their tenancies.
This approach significantly reduces the likelihood of repeat homelessness or a return to rough sleeping. The Council is on course to have 60 Housing First homes in Oxford by the end of 2025/26.
Comment
“Like other councils, we’ve faced record demand for support from households facing homelessness and needing temporary accommodation in the last few years.
“We’ve been working hard to rise to the challenge. Homelessness comes with a significant human and financial cost and prevention is always better than cure, so we’ve reorganised our Housing Needs service to put preventing homelessness at the heart of our work.
“As a result, we’ve seen a 241% increase in homelessness prevention in the last two years. This not only delivers much better outcomes for people threatened with homelessness, it puts Oxford in a much better place to weather this storm than most other councils.
“We’re never complacent, but I’m proud of what our Housing Needs team has achieved and wish them the best of luck at the LGC Awards in June.”
Councillor Linda Smith, Cabinet Member for Housing and Communities
The LGC Awards 2025 will be held at Grosvenor House in London on Wednesday 11 June.
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