GROUPS trying to tackle homelessness in Oxford have been urged to work with experts who have the skills to deal with rough sleepers.

Jon Fitzpatrick, who runs The Porch in Magdalen Road, claimed some people had spread untrue rumours about homeless people ‘dying’ on the city’s streets – but had never contacted him or his colleagues to discuss how things could be improved.

The Porch supports homeless people in a number of ways, including training courses, a free clothing store and providing low-cost food.

Mr Fitzpatrick said: “There’s information that is being put out there and we don’t recognise what’s being said.

“There are posts on social media though they’ve never spoken to us at all.

“From talking to colleagues, that is a common thing.”

A rumour which gained traction on social media in Oxford last month claimed a woman died because she was sleeping rough.

It is included in an online petition, which has been signed by more than 35,700 people.

It calls for the city council to change its policy on who can access shelters.

But the city council said, although she had died, she was accessing homelessness services and was accommodated in a shelter when she was taken ill.

Yet the speculation has again been repeated this week by the Lib Dem candidate for Carfax at May’s city council elections, Conor McKenzie.

Writing to condemn Oxford City Council’s apparent recent conduct, he said: “This winter a number of people have died rough sleeping in Oxford already.”

But Mr Fitzpatrick called for official groups to be supported: “[The Porch has] been around for 30 years and we hope to be here for another 30 years and we know what we are talking about.

“We are not rigid and exclusive to the homeless. We do mental health support, homelessness prevention and we think it’s a holistic approach.

“It’s at the focus of the individual.

“[Other groups’] approach seems to be contradictory to that,” he added.

Up to 89 people are thought to be sleeping rough across the city and Government statistics released yesterday estimate the number of rough sleepers on UK streets has increased by 133 per cent since 2010 to about 4,700.

Mr Fitzpatrick said rumours that homeless people had been rejected from city shelters were untrue.

Mr Fitzpatrick said: “We have been closed some nights. There has just been nobody to open it for. That people have been turned away is just a lie.

“It’s opening up a lot of anger and touching on emotion.”

He added that some homeless people had to be made aware of their own ‘personal responsibility’.

Mr Fitzpatrick said: “Some of these people make bad choices, not because they cannot make good choices but because they’ve made bad choices.”