PLANS for a new homeless shelter to help alleviate the city’s rough sleeping crisis have been revealed along with a scheme to rehabilitate the most vulnerable.

Work on the 37-bedroom facility in Rymers Lane, Cowley, could begin in March 2018 and provide homeless people with a programme to enable them to live independently.

It will replace the 52-bed Simon House shelter, which will be decommissioned from March following Oxfordshire County Council cuts.

Oxford City Council has agreed to provide £200,000 to keep Simon House open with 22 beds until the new Cowley shelter is ready in April 2019.

The Rymers Lane development will be split into two houses, one of 22 beds and the other 15.

The first will be home to the most vulnerable homeless people embarking on an ‘independent living plan’ and will be manned 24 hours a day with an 11pm curfew.

The other house will be for those who have completed the plan – which takes between six months and two years – and are ready to move on.

The facility – to be run by A2Dominion – will not act as a hostel but will only be for those who have expressed a willingness to enter into the programme.

Oxford City Council provided testimony from those who had made it through a similar programme under A2Dominion at Simon House.

One said: “Thank you so much for all you did in putting Humpty Dumpty back together again.

“Wisdom, kind words, friendly smiles, a lack of judgment – knowing there was always someone there for me and feeling as if there was a safety net below me.

“You gave me time and space to recover – every day I struggle to believe that I am living in such a beautiful flat in a stunning location.”

The new shelter forms part of the council’s housing and homelessness strategy, which also pledges to reduce rough sleepers and empty housing and create more affordable housing.

The city’s Lib Dem group has responded to the strategy’s consultation and said access to services needed to be made clearer.

One of its authors, Liz Wade, said: “It needs to include an appendix, continually updated, of accommodation available for rough sleepers in cold weather.

“The point at which ‘severe weather’ provision is triggered is currently three successive nights at freezing temperatures. This should be reconsidered – a fridge runs at approx. 4 degrees C so no one should be expected to sleep safely outside at that temperature.

“The churches and other institutions offering crisis accommodation should be given ongoing training and support, and additional places should be sought.”