Council to provide private rooms for rough-sleepers during Covid-19 crisis

Oxford City Council has announced that they will provide homeless individuals with self-contained rooms to help keep them safe during the Covid-19 outbreak. 

The council is working closely with Public Health England, Thames Valley Police, and the charities Turning Point and Outreach to provide supported housing to help prevent the spread of Coronavirus amongst homeless people.

The council have said they will no longer provide people with communal living spaces and instead are looking to provide 100 individuals with a hotel or other self-contained rooms.

Currently, the council has only managed to secure 21 rooms, but they have said they are assessing their options in order to provide more.

Once these rooms are available it will mean that people can move out of communal living spaces in Floyds Row, O’Hanlon House and the Oxford Winter Night Shelter, into safer individual rooms.

Outreach service workers are going to provide individuals with phones to make sure that they are aware of symptoms and know what to do if they suspect they may be infected.

The Porch day centre is also going to deliver meals and essential items to people who are experiencing homelessness and volunteers will provide individuals with hand sanitiser and advice on handwashing.

Cllr Linda Smith, deputy leader and cabinet member for leisure and housing said: ‘Nobody should have to sleep rough in Oxford and we’re working with outreach, supported housing and day services to protect vulnerable people on our streets and in supported housing from the coronavirus.

‘We’re urgently looking for suitable self-contained accommodation to do this and I would ask hotels and organisations who can help to contact our rough sleeping and single homelessness team.’

Published earlier this week on NewStart, Nicholas Pleace, professor of social policy, University of York and Joanne Bretherton, research fellow, University of York explain why the Coronavirus crisis shows that homelessness urgently needs to become a thing of the past.

He writes: ‘The terrifying reality of living rough is never more apparent than when someone is ill. There is no bed, there are no walls, there is little physical safety or protection from the elements. And there is no personal space to control or keep clean.’

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