10th October is World Homeless Day 2023, and we are marking the day by drawing attention to the amazing work of one of our tenants, Homeless Oxfordshire.
What they do
As part of Oxford City Council’s homelessness pathway, Homeless Oxfordshire work with people who are coming straight out of rough sleeping. As such they are often dealing with some of the most complex cases that there are.
‘The first stage in our work is to provide emergency accommodation for people coming straight off the streets; we then provide them with benefits support to ensure they are claiming what they are entitled to.’ This is the first stage to providing them with the stability they need to move further with their recovery.
Homeless Oxfordshire also provide residential housing for people at a later stage in their support - a kind of a halfway house on the way back to fully independent living - so that there is a realistic pathway to independence again.
There are other projects that are more specialised and unique, for example their women's only project, which provides accommodation to women experiencing homelessness. As Laura notes, women experiencing homelessness are often more invisible than men. For example they might be involved in sex work at night, and then sofa surfing in the day.
The next stage in the support provided is involvement in recovery projects, which are all about offering people a meaningful use of their time, for example through gardening or arts.
‘These can be a huge game changer, as these activities give people an outlet for their time, and start engaging them in something close to normal life again’. They also provide a therapeutic space for people recovering from traumatic experiences.
Insights from the sector
‘The majority of our clients have had traumatic experiences earlier in life’, says Laura.
After years of working in the sector, Homeless Oxfordshire staff have come to understand that homelessness is so often the result of deep seated, long term and less obvious issues. Yet their multifaceted approach works to address these issues from all angles.
The organisation makes sure that everything they do is trauma informed, and use a mental health aware approach. All of their staff have training in this approach.
Most excitingly, homeless Oxfordshire's client engagement coordinator uses links with the Pitt Rivers museum to bring the culture of Oxford to their clients through interventions such as art therapy. These activities can help to overcome the social exclusion so often involved in homelessness. In these art therapy spaces, staff start to discovery huge amounts of talent and creativity that their clients have, when only given a space and the support to explore it.
Upcoming Events
They are holding an exhibition of clients’ art work in the new year - 22nd Feb to 7th March 2024.
Finding a professional home at Ethical Property
Homeless Oxfordshire make use of one of our Ethical Property centres to facilitate their work in the community.
Laura says, ‘the centre is a useful meeting space for our frontline workers who are otherwise in residential settings. It provides a professional surrounding for meetings that might only otherwise happen in provided housing.
At the centre, our team can get together easily, and we are close to our other projects thanks to the building’s central location in the community we are serving’.
At Ethical Property centres we make it our priority to provide space to organisations making a remarkable social impact. If you are or know of such an organisation with need for work space, get in touch with us today at info@ethicalproperty.co.uk.