Bicester area public invited to shape homelessness strategy

The council is reviewing its current homelessness and rough sleeping strategy and has drafted a new one.

To help shape the final strategy, a consultation seeks views on the council’s plans and priority actions to help prevent people from becoming homeless and to find them accommodation if they do.

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The survey is on the council’s Citizen Space consultation platform and runs from Monday November 20 to Thursday January 11, 2024.

Councillor Nicholas Mawer, Portfolio Holder for Housing, said: “We are committed to supporting our most vulnerable residents and working to prevent people from becoming homeless, and the work of reviewing and updating our homelessness strategy is a key part of this.

“We closely monitor homelessness in the district, the trends and pressures which affect it, and the partnerships and services we can work with to support people.

“As a result, we’ve identified a set of priorities which we ask residents to consider and rank in order of priority. I would encourage anyone who lives or works in north Oxfordshire, who is concerned about homelessness and rough sleeping, to have their say.”

The measures people are asked to have their say on include improving access to affordable accommodation, helping vulnerable people sustain existing tenancies, and doing more to reach households who currently find it hard to access council services.

The results of the survey will help shape the council’s updated homelessness strategy and inform its actions to prevent and relieve homelessness.

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This story was written by Matthew Norman, he joined the team in 2022 as a Facebook community reporter.

Matthew covers Bicester and focuses on finding stories from diverse communities.

Get in touch with him by emailing: Matthew.norman@newsquest.co.uk

Follow him on Twitter: @OxMailMattN1