MORE should be done to help the homeless in Oxford, according to the city's Green Party. 

Councillors have said the decision to shut homeless shelter Lucy Faithfull House in the new year is "short-term thinking"

Green Councillor Ruthi Brandt said: "The County Council is expecting homeless people to be relocated between now and the end of January - yet there is no easy answer as to where they would go." 

Earlier this month it was revealed that the shelter in Speedwell Street would shut after 30 years. 

Oxfordshire County Council decided to revise its Oxford Homeless Pathways service due to cuts of 38 per cent to its housing related support budget.

The council said the 61 beds currently available at the Speedwell Street hostel will not be lost, but redistributed to other areas in the city.

Chief executive of Oxford Homeless Pathways Lesley Dewhurst said it was an end of an era.

The Greens are asking for Oxford City Council, which owns Lucy Faithfull House, and whose services will be put under more pressure if more people end up on the streets, to intervene. 

Cllr Brandt added: "At the very least the City Council could provide emergency relief funding from its homelessness reserve to keep services going and it should look longer term at how it could provide alternate facilities in Lucy Faithfull House - perhaps in collaboration with the City's other providers of homeless services.

"Lucy Faithfull House provides a much needed safety net and does a great job of getting vulnerable people back on to their feet again. To lose the facility would be a tragedy."