AT ST Mungo’s we know that it takes more than a roof over someone’s head to end homelessness.

The causes and consequences of having nowhere stable to live are often very complicated.

Being ‘homeless’ encompasses other experiences as well as rough sleeping, like living in temporary accommodation such as a hostel or B&B or ‘sofa surfing’ between friends’ houses.

But sleeping rough is the most visible form of homelessness and supporting people who are street homeless is a large part of St Mungo’s work in Oxford.

St Mungo’s Oxspot is a team of experienced outreach workers dedicated to making a difference to the lives and future of people who are sleeping rough.

The service we provide is based on what each person needs.

Each person we work with is going through a personal time of crisis, and there could be a mix of factors involved, including a housing need, alcohol or drug dependency or a decline in mental health – or all four.

It can take time for people to talk to us but our staff are persistent and will continue to go back to people until such a time when people feel able to accept the offer of help.

Each year, Oxspot assists in the coordination of the Severe Emergency Weather Protocol (SWEP). This is activated by Oxford City Council when the temperature is set to be freezing or below for three consecutive nights.

Rough sleeping is an emergency any time, but in freezing temperatures it can be life-threatening.

This year our eight workers have taken on more wide ranging SWEP responsibility, from collating lists of people in need, to staffing and running one SWEP emergency shelter space in partnership with The Porch.

The SWEP provision is life-saving emergency provision, managed safely by experienced staff.

In Oxford, there are three SWEP spaces providing a mix of safe places for different levels of need.

To date these SWEP spaces have opened for a total of 29 nights. Across that time, 121 people were brought in to them, out of the freezing cold.

This year we had enough SWEP spaces for everyone who wanted a place which is a testament to the hard work of the partner services involved.

It is a daily concern that someone will die on the streets.

We strive to put everything in place to reduce this risk. We also used Bed and Breakfast provision on some occasions but only after careful consideration about the safeguarding of our clients and the public.

We also offered kennelling for dogs so that people sleeping rough with their pets could take up the offer of a space knowing their companion was safe. There is some space for dogs in one of the SWEP facilities but this was limited because we needed to ensure the dogs in there were safe to be around other dogs.

We appreciate it is very hard for owners and their dogs to be separated, but kennelling and SWEP is about potentially saving lives in extreme cold.

When SWEP is activated by the council, our team go out to all sleep sites and begging sites that we’re aware of, to day centres and other places where people who are street homeless can often be found. We make every effort to encourage people to come inside.

We make our partners aware and distribute leaflets and posters as widely as possible about how to access SWEP services.

This year has also seen an Oxford Winter Night Shelter become a reality. This is the result of the generosity and commitment of local churches and their volunteers who spent much of 2017 carefully planning this shelter and working with local services to provide safe spaces for ten men and women for three months over the 2017-18 winter.

St Mungo’s Oxspot team was proud to be asked to be the referrers for this Winter Night Shelter to ensure that the most vulnerable people sleeping rough were offered a space there. This facility has been invaluable and shows what can be achieved when the community works together to improve services for people.

Winter shelters and SWEP are in place during the cold weather. Our work doesn’t stop when temperatures rise, however. The Oxspot team will continue to go out throughout the year and respond to people newly rough sleeping and those with longer histories on the street – ultimately we want everyone to have a place to call home and the chance to fulfil their hopes and ambitions, away from the streets for good.

What can the public do? We’d ask you to

* Connect - if people are concerned about someone who is rough sleeping, please make a referral via the national service StreetLink.org.uk. The StreetLink team pass on these referrals to our outreach staff and we aim to make contact as soon as possible. This is not an emergency service, however, so please do call an ambulance in an emergency situation.

* Volunteer – find out how you can volunteer for established services in the Oxford area, see the Oxford Council website for services information https://www.oxford.gov.uk/info/20019/homelessness