Figures from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government show the number of households in England assessed for homelessness support rose by 10% over the last year, reaching nearly 91,000 between April and June.
In Oxford, 253 households were assessed, up from 194 in the same period in 2023.
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Sasha East, chief executive of The Gatehouse, an independent charity and drop-in centre for homeless and vulnerable adults in Oxfordshire, said: “Over the past year we’ve seen an increase in people coming to The Gatehouse who are facing homelessness.
“It’s really difficult for people to get housing in Oxford because there’s so little available, there’s an extremely high-cost other things, such as needing a guarantor or landlords not accepting pets, can make it really difficult for people to find housing.
“Those who do have homes worry about how they will be able to continue living in their homes as any potential rent increase could mean that they will very quickly facing homelessness.”
Other charities described the national picture as a worsening housing crisis, suggesting that the only solution is for the government to build 90,000 affordable social homes a year for the next decade.
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Polly Neate, chief executive of Shelter, said: “Devastatingly we’re seeing the housing emergency continue to escalate, with more and more people showing up to their council facing homelessness, desperate for help.”
A few weeks ago, the government announced an additional £233 million would be spent in 2025-26 to tackle homelessness, taking total spending on the issue to £1 billion.
In England, 123,100 households were living in temporary accommodation as of June, including 248 in Oxford.
This was up from 105,750 the year before.
Meanwhile, nearly 159,400 children faced homelessness in temporary accommodation nationally up 15 per cent from the year before, and the highest figure since records began in 2004.
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Rushanara Ali, minister for homelessness, said: “It is a scandal that so many children are waking up in temporary accommodation.
“We have inherited the consequences of years of failure to grip the housing crisis with families facing the brutal uncertainty and trauma of homelessness.
“We are taking decisive action to get the homes we need built and our dedicated inter-ministerial group, led by the Deputy Prime Minister, is working at pace across government to get us back on track to end homelessness for good.
“We will deliver the biggest boost in social and affordable housebuilding in a generation and tackle one of the biggest drivers of homelessness by ending no fault evictions.”
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