Rooms at Oxford YHA have been cleaned more than 2,000 times by Oxford Direct Services (ODS) so that homeless people can be housed during the pandemic.

As England went into the initial lockdown last March the government issued an ‘everyone in’ direction for councils to provide emergency housing for rough sleepers and vulnerable homeless people to prevent the spread of the virus.

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During the pandemic 355 people have been given emergency housing, with 196 of these people helped into more permanent accommodation.

Councillor Mike Rowley, Cabinet Member for Citizen Focused Services said: “Life is difficult for homeless people at the best of times, but the Covid crisis brought additional problems that needed innovative solutions, including providing shelter in the Oxford YHA. I want to thank the ODS crew for their dedicated working in keeping this accommodation clean – it’s an essential part of making the scheme work.”

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