This year Oxford City Council is marking World Homeless Day on 10 October with something very different – the launch of Oxford Homeless Movement, a citywide partnership united by the aim of ensuring nobody should have to sleep rough in Oxford.

This is an ambitious goal, but it needs to be. On most days, an hour in the medieval heart of our city will show the terrible human cost of austerity, welfare reform and precarious private renting. Our outreach team helps hundreds of people off the streets each year but still makes contact with 20 people new to rough sleeping every month.