HOMELESS charities and shelters in Oxford will suffer when a £1m grant from central Government is cut, a campaigner has warned.

Organisations that help to look after and shelter homeless people in Oxford get a share of a £950,000 grant from the Government to prevent homelessness.

The cash is handed to the city council every year and shared with charities and other bodies.

But the council has announced it will not receive the grant next year, sparking concerns.

Instead, money for tackling homelessness will be included in the council’s “formula grant” from the Government, which has not yet been decided.

But the cash will not be ringfenced, and the council has admitted it may not be able to spend as much on the issue and expects the overall grant to reduce.

Oxfordshire Homeless Pathways chief executive Lesley Dewhurst said she fears for the future of homeless people in Oxford if the money is not found.

She said: “There will undoubtedly be fewer services for homeless people, fewer staff to look after them and more people will end up on the streets.”

This year, the council has been given £957,040 to add to its own homelessness budget of £442,279. It will help pay for beds in shelters run by other organisations and support staff to work with homeless people.

But city executive board member for housing Scott Seamons said: “In the future we will not receive the grant at all.

“With continual cuts to our government grant, the whole council budget will be under continual pressure in which we could struggle to continue to allocate nearly £1m for this work.

“This is all part of the spirit of 'localism', by which the government really means handing down the tough decisions on cuts in a way that is grossly unfair on urban authorities.

“Ultimately it’s indirectly a cut and should be thought of that way.”

This year’s money will be spent on employing workers at charities and support organisations in the city. Some £235,000 will be handed to the charity Broadway, which has a three-year contract with the council to help deal with problems.

Money will also be spent on staff at O’Hanlon House (£34,223), Elmore Community Services (£40,757), Luther Street Medical Centre (£25,000), Aspire (£60,519) and the Big Issue Foundation (£25,000), among other projects.

A homeless liaison police officer with Thames Valley Police is also employed using £40,000 of the cash.

At least 14 beds will be funded at Simon House, Lucy Faithfull House, One Foot Forward and other shelters, and some of the money will be spent on training initiatives.

A Department for Communities and Local Government spokesman would not comment on why the grant was being cut.

She said: “Despite all the economic challenges we face, homelessness is still less than half the level it reached under the previous administration.

“And England has a strong safety net and that remains in place – protected in law – to ensure homeless families always have a roof over their heads.”