Homeless shelter desperate for volunteers or it will have to close

O’Hanlon House provides a bed and support for 70 people but could be forced to shut its kitchen, which provides more than 100 meals to a day, if volunteers are not urgently recruited.

It comes as Oxfordshire County Council looks to slash its funding for homeless services in the county by 38 per cent, despite the number of rough sleepers in Oxford increasing by 50 per cent in the past year.

It has left the Luther Street shelter totally dependent on volunteers as it struggles to balance the books.

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Helen Wright, volunteer co-ordinator for Oxford Homeless Pathways, which runs O’Hanlon House, told the Oxford Mail it was a race against time to recruit 40 volunteers to ensure the kitchen can remain open.

She said: “If we don’t get the volunteers we cannot keep the kitchen open. Breakfast would be okay, but providing lunch and dinner would be a major problem.

“We really cannot provide up to 100 meals a day without more volunteers.

“So at the moment we are really trying to get more volunteers for the kitchen because the situation is only going to get worse.

“We did not want to get to the stage where we solely rely on volunteers but it’s the only option we have.”

The county council plans to cut its housing related support from £3.85m to £2.34m by 2016/17 because of a reduction in cash from the Government.

A spot check in late November revealed that 39 people were sleeping on the streets of Oxford compared to 26 in 2014.

Oxford City Council, which is responsible for housing people and currently spends £1.4m on homelessness, said it feared further cuts on the homeless pathways service could have a “very detrimental effect”.

Deputy leader Ed Turner warned homelessness represented “the greatest pressure” on services in Oxford.

Chief executive of Oxford Homeless Pathways Lesley Dewhurst said they were trying to “supplement” staff with volunteers because of the cuts.

And Ms Dewhurst added the service could also face further cuts.

The county council had proposed another 65 per cent reduction in funding as it responded to an expected shortfall of £50m from the Government, but this is likely to be closer to £70m, meaning the severity of the cuts could be even higher.

Ms Dewhurst added: “We cannot afford to provide the service without making more cuts and asking more volunteers to come forward.

“If the 65 per cent comes about there will probably be no homeless services of this sort in Oxford. You cannot provide hostel accommodation at that level of cuts.

“Already as a result of the 38 per cent we are cutting down on everything we can.”

MP for Oxford East Andrew Smith said the situation at O’Hanlon House and homeless pathways in general shows just what pressure Oxford is under.

He added: “The county cuts will make things worse. There is a fantastic tradition of voluntary help at O’Hanlon House, and I feel sure their appeal for volunteers will get a good response.”

In February, O’Hanlon House will become an assessment centre in which clients will only be able to stay for four weeks, rather than the six months they currently can, as the county council looks to reshape its homeless “pathway” to accommodate its savings.

Busy in the kitchen ahead of the festive period are volunteer co-ordinator Helen Wright and head chef Tom Ballard

Ms Dewhurst added people may be moved out of Oxford to ensure they could move into accommodation.

She said: “We know we have higher numbers of people and are losing the amount of time we have to work with them. In some ways it’s good as we can get people onto the right services quicker, but there is a potential side effect in that we could get repeated referrals.

“But then you have to find places and accommodation in Oxford, which is hard enough as it is, so we may look to move people away from the city.”

Council spokesman Chris Birdsall said they had no plans to close any of the services and added the new plans for homeless shelters would provide the same amount of accommodation.

‘An extra pair of hands go a long way’

THE head chef at O’Hanlon House serves up to 100 meals a day and requires heavily on volunteers to help him out.

Tom Ballard, who has worked at the homeless shelter since September, said recruiting more volunteers was vital to ensure the kitchen could keep running.

It once had three chefs and three assistants, but now there are two chefs who work on alternate days and one part-time assistant.

Mr Ballard gets fresh food from a food bank and decides what the menu is for each day.

He said: “Volunteers mean we can give a better service; an extra pair of hands can go a long way.

“The budgets have meant there is more of a strain on staff and that’s why we are looking for volunteers to come forward.

“It’s great to volunteer and people can get a lot of satisfaction as well as work and meet a range of different people, which is what I like.

“Volunteers can do anything: they can help clean dishes, serve meals, help cook, we are grateful for the help.

“We are usually a lot busier in the winter months.”

To volunteer at O’Hanlon House contact Helen Wright on 01865 792126 or email HelenWright@oxhop.org.uk.

Head chef Tom Ballard gets a helping hand from Michael Race 

My day in the kitchen

I VOLUNTEERED my services to O’Hanlon House this month and I must say I was completely shocked at how the kitchen staff manage to serve so many meals every day.

Sometimes it is just Tom the head chef on his own. He has to prepare, cook, and serve up the meals for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

It is a shame budget cuts have led to the Oxford Homeless Pathways service needing volunteers, but there are a lot of positives to come out of it.

I was able to learn how to cook several meals from scratch, including a nice fish pie.

It is amazing how the staff come up with such a varied menu from all the different vegetables, fruit and ingredients that are donated.

The people using the service also opened my eyes to the scale of the homelessness problem in Oxford. We served about 80 meals at just lunchtime and when talking to some of the customers, they were so grateful that the service was there to help them.

The current volunteers vary from those in their 20s to the retired. There is nothing stopping anyone from helping out and the team are so grateful to you for helping them out.

If you want to make a real difference in your community, I would recommend helping this service as without volunteers, it will cease to exist.