ONE of Oxford's largest homeless charities is launching a new service to get rough sleepers and vulnerable people back into employment.

Oxford Homeless Pathways [OxHoP] will announce the start of 'Reconnect' on Monday, which will aimed to provide housing at reduced rents to support people without a home to find work and hold a job down.

The new project comes after Oxford City Council announced it is looking to spend up to £1.3m on housing for about 25 homeless people in Simon House, after it is decommissioned by Oxfordshire County Council.

The local authority also said it would then build a new building in 2019 - at a cost of £1.125m.

Claire Dowan, chief executive at Oxford Homeless Pathways, welcomed the proposals at the time saying more support rough sleepers would be 'beneficial' for Oxford.

Ms Dowan said the aim of Reconnect was to get homeless people into employment, which was the 'last building block' out of a life on the streets.

She added: "OxHoP provides 200 rooms for local homeless people through its hostel and houses in the community.

"However, we are more than just a provider of accommodation and through a variety of different services we support homeless adults to re-build relationships and learn how to manage a tenancy.

"We are very proud to announce a new service called Reconnect. The aim of Reconnect is to provide housing at a reduced rent and support to those clients that are ready to find work or who have just got a job and need additional help to be able to hold it down – employment is the last building block out of homelessness.

"Our hostel provides 24 hour support and accommodation to some of the most vulnerable members of our community, our existing community houses enable people to learn how to manage a tenancy and

"Reconnect will provide the opportunity for clients to have a supportive move back into employment. OxHoP is one of only 13 projects out of the 1,274 that exist in England that has over 100 units of accommodation.

"This new service will mean we offer a unique and holistic approach that tackles the range of issues that lead to people becoming and remaining homeless."

Along with the project, the charity is creating opportunities for people access social enterprise activities and has now become a registered trading company.

They are also calling on members of the public to take part in a 'Festival of Toast' to raise funds for the service on October 11.

Organisers say as other charities host coffee mornings, toast breakfasts will become their flagship fundraising event.

They are calling on companies to raise funds by putting on breakfast for staff.