Six housing and homelessness organisations, local councils and the Lived Experience Advisory Forum (LEAF) in Oxfordshire have collaborated to create the ‘Oxfordshire Homelessness Alliance’, as a new partnership of commissioned services embarking on a ground-breaking programme of work, to prevent and resolve homelessness in Oxfordshire.

The Alliance providers - Aspire, A2Dominion, Connection Support, Elmore Community Services, Homeless Oxfordshire and St Mungo's - are working alongside Oxfordshire County Council, the local city and district councils and LEAF to improve service delivery and client outcomes for adults experiencing - or at risk of - homelessness, throughout the county.

The Alliance approach signals a clear intention to work in a more co-operative, aligned way between providers and councils across the county, to tackle the complex social problem of homelessness. 

This new approach has already succeeded in bringing new training to the county, with Oxfordshire Homeless Alliance being accepted onto the Making Every Adult Matter (MEAM) network. The nationally recognised programme helps local areas design and deliver better coordinated services for people experiencing multiple disadvantages.

This announcement coincides with marking annual World Homeless Day on Monday 10th October, which this year shares a date with World Mental Health Day. In recognition of this, Oxfordshire Homelessness Alliance and Oxfordshire Homeless Movement have actively contributed to an additional strand of the ‘Get Oxfordshire Talking’ campaign, providing an opportunity for people to set out how they are working to change the lives of people experiencing homelessness in their local community, and share information about how mental health difficulties and homelessness are intertwined.