Help for homeless families
Providing affordable and settled housing options is a key part of preventing and reducing all types of homelessness.
The Homelessness Reduction Act 2017 – which became law in April 2018 – means we have legal duties to prevent and relieve homelessness. For families who are homeless or threatened with homelessness, our housing options service provides advice, assistance and, where necessary, temporary accommodation.
Our work to prevent family homelessness goes far beyond providing accommodation. It can include negotiating with landlords, providing budgeting support and coaching, helping people into work, applying for benefits or accessing other sources of temporary financial support.
We give grants of more than £500,000 a year to Oxford’s independent advice centres to help people with issues like benefits, debt and money management. Our Early Intervention Team supports residents affected by benefit cuts to sustain their tenancies, and our Rent Guarantee Scheme offers guaranteed rent and tenancy management support to landlords while it works with tenants to improve their incomes.
