Your views on Oxford's Housing, Homelessness & Rough Sleeping Strategy 2023-28

A public consultation on the draft Housing, Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Strategy for 2023-28 during a period of 6 weeks, starting 26^th November and ending 8^th December 2022. This was a statutory consultation – all local authorities have to consult on their draft homelessness and rough sleeping strategy before this is finalised and implemented.

The focus of the consultation was to hear if we had set out the right commitments and plans to achieve the priorities we have established for the strategy.

The consultation was available to the public on the Council’s consultation website. The online survey was promoted widely, primarily through social media, but also through the Council’s Tenants in Touch magazine, on our Choice Based Lettings website, press releases and through sharing information directly with a wide range of community groups and partner organisations.

In addition to the online survey, we sought views from the community through other means, including attending community events, holding a session with individuals who have lived experience of homelessness, held a session with the Council’s Tenants Ambassadors. We also engaged with key partners, holding five stakeholder workshops to seek their views on our commitments and how we plan to achieve these.

We received a good response to the consultation, receiving 103 online responses along with 4 written responses and 60 individuals attended the stakeholder events representing 27 different organisations. 

We had a positive response to the consultation with between 74% and 85% of respondents to the online survey agreeing or strongly agreeing with what we had set out to do under each priority.  This sentiment was echoed through the other consultation activities, with most individuals and organisations agreeing with our commitments. Overall, the good response rate and positive feedback confirmed that we were on the right track with what we have set out to do over the next 5 years.  

Through all consultation activities, we also asked respondents to tell us if they had other comments and if there is anything in particular that they think is particularly important for us to deliver under the different priorities. We received a good number of comments, the majority of which reflected our commitments and plans set out in the draft strategy but we have further developed the strategy and made amendments, including:

• Developed the strategy action plan informed by the priorities and insight gained from members of the public and stakeholders through the consultation process.
• Updating the strategy and evidence base with the most recent Census data.
• Incorporated more detailed information in relation to the need for affordable housing.
• Reaffirmed our commitment to provide a face-to-face offer of services to those who need it.
• Further developed our approach to governance and monitoring of the Strategy and Action Plan.
• We have included more context and explanation as to our limitations as a Local Authority in areas where we have limited influence, this includes supporting individuals with no recourse to public funds and implementing rent caps in the private rented sector.

The consultation and the subsequent refinements of the strategy itself, has enabled us to develop a comprehensive action plan. This action plan outlines details on how we will implement the ambitions and plans set out in the strategy, incorporates feedback we received through the consultation, and includes:

• Plans for a review of the Council’s private rented sector access schemes, in order to make sure that we can offer affordable and sustainable housing solutions in the future.
• Reduce the number of privately rented homes that contain serious home hazards.
• Monitoring of the need for affordable homes in the City and having arrangements in place to ensure that the need for affordable homes drives the development of housing supply. Ensure that steps are taken to meet the high demand for certain affordable housing types, such as 1-bedroom properties.
• Support and identify opportunities for community-led housing developments.
• Continue to deliver investment into our council homes, including improving energy efficiency.
• Continue to work with and support the Oxfordshire Homelessness Alliance and commissioning partners to end the need for anyone to sleep rough in the county.
• Work with commissioning partners and providers to commission supported accommodation that is distributed and dispersed appropriately throughout the city, to ensure that persons living in supported accommodation feel supported and safe where they live.

The action plan will be updated yearly to ensure it remains relevant and responsive to changing context, and progress will be closely monitored and reported on.  A full review of the action plan and progress made will be completed on an annual basis. Revisions to the action plan will be presented to Cabinet for approval. In line with the normal process this report will also be available to the Council’s Scrutiny Committee, and sub committees, to consider and provide recommendations to Cabinet, in line with the Council’s constitution.

The strategy and accompanying action plan are published on the Council’s website.