A decision on whether to sell off 10 buildings used as hostels for the homeless is to be made by Oxford City Council in the New Year.

Money raised by the sale of the buildings -- estimated to be about £6.5m -- would be ring-fenced to improve the standard of council houses.

A proposal to sell the properties -- which need considerable work to bring them up to standard -- will be discussed by the council's executive board on February 7, with the full council expected to make a final decision in March.

At present, the council has 12 properties classed as hostels, which have shared kitchens and bathrooms.

They are used to provide short-term temporary accommodation for people whose homelessness applications are being investigated.

Graham Stratford, acting housing services business manager, said there was plenty of alternative, better quality accommodation that the council could use if the 10 remaining hostels were sold.

He said: "We have good quality temporary accommodation both in the short and long term."

A report to councillors described the hostels as a "valuable asset".

It said money raised through their sale could help the council plug a gap in funding needed to achieve the Government's Decent Homes Standard in council houses.

But councillors in east Oxford, where eight hostels are located, have called on the council to invest money in upgrading the buildings, rather than sell them.

Green St Mary's ward councillor Craig Simmons, chairman of east area parliament, said: "We recommend that the council should make all efforts to retain the stock, modifying them to meet current needs."

Ed Turner, the council's executive member for housing, said: "The council has to bring all its houses up to a Decent Homes Standard.

"Obviously we need to invest as much money on that as possible on our houses.

"That means in some cases properties that aren't economical to repair, like these hostels, will be sold off.

"But the money raised will not go on anything else -- it will be used to provide better homes for our tenants."