A WINTER shelter has been available for rough sleepers across southern Oxfordshire for the first time.

Two district councils, South Oxfordshire and Vale of White Horse, offered a local winter shelter for for six weeks until the end of February.

It was the first time the two council have been able to provide safe emergency accommodation for rough sleepers.

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According to the two councils, it allowed people sleeping on the streets to stay in their own area where they might feel safer and more easily able to stay in touch with friends or family.

David Rouane, cabinet member for housing and environment at South Oxfordshire District Council, said: “In southern Oxfordshire we have been very successful in finding accommodation for those who are homeless or at risk of homelessness. The aim of this shelter is to provide people who find themselves in this situation somewhere to stay and at the same time access to support and services to find permanent accommodation.”

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David Rouane. Picture: SODC.

The shelter offered accommodation for up to six people at a time.

A total of seven rough sleepers were helped by the centre, which means it could be opened again next winter if demand is high enough.

The shelter also offered users a housing support officer, who worked to secure them more permanent housing.

The winter shelter is funded from government grants for the prevention or relief of homelessness.

At the end of last year, SODC and the Vale received £8,958 of grant funding from a government pot of money to tackle rough sleeping.

The two councils want to end the need for rough sleeping in the districts through prevention, early intervention and increasing access to sustainable accommodation.

South and Vale are reducing the number of rough sleepers across both districts.

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During the annual rough sleeper count that took place nationally in November, the overall numbers in South Oxfordshire and Vale of White Horse went down from 12 to 7.

However, a recent BBC report questioned the method of the rough sleeper count, which is used nationally and relies on data gathered on a single autumn night each year.

The winter shelter is part of a new countywide approach to tackling homelessness, which has seen Oxfordshire's different districts working together.

South and Vale are planning to publish a new joint homelessness and rough sleeping strategy in April that will give more details on the how they both plan to end rough sleeping across the south of the county.