MORE housing will be provided for the homeless as Oxford City Council pledged £5m to help tackle the problem.
The new accommodation was announced on Friday by council officer Stephen Clarke.
He was responding to questions from councillors as to why the local authority was missing its target for its No Second Night Out scheme.
The programme aims to ensure no homeless person has to spend more than one night on the street before being given temporary accommodation.
A report presented to the council’s housing panel stated: “The on-going target to reduce the number of new rough sleepers spending a second night out on the streets is currently not being met.
“This is due to an increase in representations and a lack of suitable ‘move on’ accommodation.”
The report did not state what the target was or by how much it was being missed.
Mr Clarke told the meeting the problem was to do with Oxford’s three homeless hostels “silting up” because there was nowhere to send rough sleepers after staying in them.
He said the council would put in £5m alongside funds from the Big Society Capital Fund to provide homes in conjunction with the St Mungo Community Housing Association. The homes would be rented out at housing association rates.
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