Food parcel demand and homelessness 'rising' in city

The cost-of-living crisis has led to a "surge in demand" for food parcels and an increase in households requiring homelessness support, figures for Oxford suggest.

Oxford Mutual Aid said it received double the average amount of new requests for food support in the city in the first two months of 2025.

The number of households requiring homelessness support has also risen by 128% in three years, according to the District Councils' Network.

Oxford City Council has been contacted for comment.

Oxford Mutual Aid was founded in response to the Covid pandemic in the city, offering parcels to at-risk communities.

It said it feared it would not be able to support the "growing number of those facing hunger and deprivation".

"We are at our limit, and have already been forced to turn away those asking for help due to a total lack of capacity," a spokesperson said.

In January and February it received first-time requests from more than 65 households, reaching a new total of 110 unique individuals.

It already provides food parcels for more than 1,000 people every month.

The organisation said each one "represents a success of a community coming together in mutual support, yet a simultaneous failure of a government failing to look after its own people".

Eight to nine struggling households are placed into temporary accommodation by Oxford City Council each week, according to the latest update from its housing and homelessness panel.

The number of people in temporary accommodation fell from 246 to 237, but in a "very challenging January" a further 63 households came to the council in need of help, with the authority expecting "ongoing pressure".

The authority stands to lose £776,708, or 36% of its funding, because of cuts to the homelessness prevention grant.

It said: "Proposed changes to the allocations formula don't reflect our situation in Oxford where unaffordable housing rather than being on benefits is the key driver of homelessness.

"We are making representations to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government to ensure our specific local needs are taken into account in providing funding to prevent homelessness."

A government spokesperson said it was "taking urgent and decisive action to end homelessness for good" and consulting on the grant to "ensure funding is distributed fairly and in line with demand".

It said it was also providing £1bn in additional support for homelessness services and "tackling the root causes of homelessness" by abolishing no fault evictions and building 1.5 million new homes.

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