Cabinet, on 8 February 2023,  in relation to the Allocation of Preventing Homelessness Grant 2023/24, resolved to:

3. Delegate to the Executive Director (Communities and People), in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Housing, the discretion to revise the intended within the overall budget if required.

To award LEAF £3,640 to support their Community Health initiative in respect of rough sleepers in Oxford. The funding will contribute to the costs of the Community Health Champion who leads this work.

Although all funding was allocated from the 2023/24 Preventing Homelessness grant fund, Aspire subsequently indicated that they would not be able to deliver the Woman’s Hub which was one of the interventions funded within the report to Cabinet on 8 February 2023. This has freed up £7,500 of funding. 

The award of £3,640 to LEAF will help to identify health inequalities in the rough sleeping cohort; promote appropriate health interventions; increase vaccine take up; support messaging from Public Health; and improve awareness and access to health services.

Cabinet has delegated authority to the Executive Director of Communities & People in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Housing to agree revisions to the programme within the overall budget.

The only alternative option is to not award this funding, which would bring an end to this work. Reducing health inequalities in people experiencing homelessness is an aim of the Countywide Homelessness Strategy and so this option has been rejected.

Decision taken by Stephen Gabriel, Executive Director (Communities and People) in consultation with Councillor Linda Smith, Cabinet Member for Housing.