I WRITE to respond to your article (£1.5m cut in homeless help will ‘escalate human misery’, Oxford Mail, January 24) on the county council’s budget proposals regarding housing-related support.

It is with regret that I am proposing savings in this non-statutory area. However we, like all other councils, are having to make tough funding decisions across services we provide because of reduced funding by central government.

We have already saved £170m since 2010/11 and now need to save an additional £95m by 2017/18.

As I have said before, the council since 2010 has been subsiding the central government grant for housing-related support.

We are proposing to cease doing this and concentrate adult social care spend on those who are eligible to receive support on such services as personal care in the home and funding towards nursing home and care home placements.

No fixed strategies on how the proposed housing-related support saving could be met have yet been established, so we cannot say how they could impact on services for the homeless.

Councillors at a full meeting of the council will vote on the overall council budget proposals on February 18.

Should the proposals be ratified, the council would work with partners and providers to explore ideas of how the proposed remaining £2.4m housing-related support budget could be spent.

Proposals would then be developed with the Health Improvement Board and then agreed by the Health and Wellbeing Board.

JUDITH HEATHCOAT (Cllr)
Faringdon Division Cabinet Member, Adult Social Care
Oxfordshire County Council