Oxfordshire Homeless Movement

From job loss to falling behind with rent, breaching a tenancy agreement or experiencing relationship breakdown, people can find themselves at risk of homelessness for many reasons - and it can happen quickly.

Since 2018, Aspire's homelessness prevention team has provided practical help to people across Oxfordshire concerned about their housing situation, offering advocacy and connecting with other support services to maintain tenancies or secure alternative solutions at the earliest possible stage.

People in need can work with the Aspire team to gain the knowledge, skills and resilience they need to create a better outcome together.

Aspire's homelessness prevention service is designed to provide support and advice to people across Oxfordshire who are concerned about their housing situation. 

Their team of outreach workers, known as “Community Navigators”, provide advice, mentoring and advocacy in community settings across the county. This support is designed to help people who are vulnerable to homelessness to stay in their homes and build their own skills, resilience and confidence so that they can manage any housing challenges themselves in the future.

Their team provides support around issues such as universal credit, managing debt and understanding their rights. They connect each person to a wide range of other services set up to help them. By providing this intensive support at the earliest possible stage they can protect vulnerable people from becoming homeless.

Aspire has been delivering a homelessness prevention service since May 2018 as part of the “Trailblazer” pilot project, in partnership with Oxfordshire councils. Their homelessness prevention programme is designed to help local people to build their resilience and prevent their homelessness. By engaging with people at risk of homelessness before crisis point is reached, there is far more potential to work with individuals and use their energy, ideas and resilience to create a better outcome together. At the heart of their homelessness prevention approach is partnership working with multiple agencies, statutory services, housing authorities and health partners to reach those most in need.