Council throws out homeless residents over Xmas and New Year period.
Greens have been actively looking for alternative solutions following the sudden announcement of the closure of the central Oxford homeless shelter, Lucy Faithfull House, in the face of County Council service cuts.
Says Green Cllr Ruthi Brandt (who represents the Ward where Lucy Faithfull House is located):
"This is short term thinking and appears to be a poorly thought-out proposal. The County Council are expecting homeless people to be relocated between now and the end of January - yet there is no easy answer as to where they would go."
The Greens are asking for the City Council, who owns Lucy Faithfull House, and whose services will be put under more pressure if more people end up on the streets, to intervene.
Says Cllr Brandt: "At the very least the City Council could provide emergency relief funding from its homelessness reserve to keep services going and it should look longer term at how it could provide alternate facilities in Lucy Faithfull House - perhaps in collaboration with the City's other providers of homeless services. Lucy Faithful House provides a much needed safety net and does a great job of getting vulnerable people back on to their feet again. To lose the facility would be a tragedy"
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