WE ARE writing to you as members of the Oxford Friends Action on Poverty (OxFAP) committee.

Thanks to the generosity of Oxford and Headington Quakers, we give grants for small things that will make a difference in helping people experiencing poverty get back on their feet. We give through known agencies and organisations in Oxford.

Many of the grants we give are to homeless people, to help them with housing-related problems. That may be for a sleeping bag or warm clothes, or help with transitioning out of homelessness, towards the cost of bedding, or carpets.

We are increasingly concerned about the housing crisis in Oxford. Having a roof over your head, and being able to afford where you live, affects us all in a city like Oxford where housing costs are enormous. The cost of housing prevents anyone except the rich, those who have inherited property, or who have been here for a long time, from living here at all.

Affordable housing is an issue for all of us. We are appalled by the cuts in Housing Related Support which Oxfordshire County Council is being forced to make.

Bad as the situation is, this is not just a crisis for homeless people forced on to the streets because shelters will have to cut their provision. There will be a huge increase in pressure on the services that remain.

We are equally concerned about the knock-on effect on people all down the line and those who run the front line services in housing, and other key workers, many of whom are poorly paid and hardly able to afford the extortionate rents paid by many. These are people performing essential services to ensure all our quality of life, the carers, the educators, the cleaners of our streets.

When is this enormous crisis going to get the attention it deserves?

SUE SMITH, ANNE WATSON, SUSAN CLARKSON, STEWART JEFFERY, TANY ALEXANDER
Oxford Friends Action on Poverty Committee (Quakers)