THREE homeless people have been found dead in Oxford.

In a statement, Mike Rowley, Oxford City Council’s cabinet member for affordable housing and housing the homeless, said: “Homelessness kills. It takes too many people too early, and every untimely death is a tragedy.

“I am sorry to have to tell you that on Sunday, October 25, it played a part in claiming the lives of three more people in Oxford.

“Two people were living in supported accommodation at the time of their deaths and all three were known to have experienced rough sleeping.”

See also: Homeless man found dead in tent

A 41-year-old woman who had been living in Matilda House in Cowley since April was found dead in her room.

A 38-year-old man was found dead in his room in the YHA in Botley Road, while a 40-year-old man who had not been in the adult homeless pathway in 2020, but who had a history of rough sleeping, died in a property in Blackbird Leys.

Apart from a history of homelessness there is no link between the three people dying and Thames Valley Police is not treating their deaths as suspicious.

Read more: Diversity panel implemented by council

Mr Rowley added: “I would like to extend my condolences to the family and friends of all three people who died. We won’t comment further on their personal circumstances except to say that all three of them had been in and around the adult homeless pathway for between four and six years.

“We believe that nobody should have to sleep rough in Oxford, let alone die on our streets or in our supported accommodation. Since the Government issued an ‘everyone in’ direction on March 26 to protect vulnerable homeless people during the pandemic we have worked harder than ever to do just that.

“We moved people out of shared hostel spaces, initially into hotel and student rooms secured at very short notice. We offered the same emergency housing to everyone experiencing rough sleeping on our streets.

See more: Harley Street doctor set to become governor at school

“As the original lockdown eased and temporary leasing arrangements with hotels and colleges came to an end, we secured agreements to lease the YHA and Canterbury House to provide 118 rooms of interim housing.

“Interim housing is a bridge between emergency arrangements and more settled, sustainable housing. It gives us the opportunity to work with people more intensively than before and give them the support they need to leave the streets behind for good.

“So far we have housed 261 people under ‘everyone in’ arrangements, with 103 of these supported into more permanent housing. This includes a number of people who had been sleeping rough on a long term basis.

“Interim housing also means we can continue to offer help to everyone sleeping on our streets this winter.”