Government Unveil £215m Housing Deal To Build 100,000 New Homes

Over a quarter of the new funding, £60m, will support affordable housing in the area to deliver more than 1,300 affordable homes – at least half of which will be for social rent – helping first time buyers and local people looking to get a foot on the housing ladder. There is also £150m for transport infrastructure – such as bridges, roundabouts and roads – across the region. The deal also includes £5m of funding to boost capacity within Oxfordshire’s six local authorities, such as additional resources to promote high quality design – helping Oxfordshire’s councils work in partnership to deliver the homes local people need. Read more on 24housing.

http://www.24housing.co.uk/news/government-unveil-215m-housing-deal-to-build-100000-new-homes/

Community Groups Tackle Oxford’s Housing Problems

A housing group is hoping to achieve a UK ‘first’ with a novel way of addressing Oxford’s affordable housing shortage. A coalition of community-led housing groups have joined forces and plan to tackle the eye-watering house prices, which now cost sixteen times the average income for the city. Over half of the new homes would be made permanently affordable by adopting a land trust model to separate the land value from the homes, making them affordable for most people through rent or equity share, and by putting in place cooperative leasing to ensure there is no Right to Buy in the long term. The development will thereby remain as a mix of owner occupied and rented homes. Read more on 24dash.

Social Housing List Criteria Relaxed

High house prices in Oxford have prompted a district council to accept more people on its social housing register. In 2014, the city was the third "least affordable" place to live in Britain, according to one report. Cherwell council has relaxed its affordable housing criteria to make a greater number of households eligible. Those who are now eligible to join the register will be people from the Cherwell district, which covers Banbury, Bicester and Kidlington, who can demonstrate their home is financially unsustainable. The council is unconcerned about the scheme creating a longer waiting list. Read more on the BBC website.

'Move To Birmingham' City Council Tells Tenant

People in Oxford in urgent need of housing are being offered properties as far away as Cardiff and Birmingham by council officials. Single mothers with nowhere permanent to live are among those who have been told they will have to relocate out of the county if they want city council help to find a house. People on benefits who are being priced out of Oxford’s private rented market are having to turn to the council for assistance. And officials say landlords are turning them down – leaving them with no choice but to sometimes look further afield for accommodation. Read more on the Oxford Times website.

Green Party Calls to Scrap Right To Buy

The right to buy scheme should be scrapped in Oxford to reduce the city's housing crisis, a councillor has said. The Green Party's Sam Hollick said the scheme had depleted the city's stock by 23 houses in 2013 so far. Labour councillor Scott Seamons called the Green idea "hopelessly naive". He added the council recently gave permission to build more than 600 affordable homes, and that building was the key to solving the shortage. Mr Hollick said while 23 houses did not seem much to fight for, there were 62 people on the 4,522-long housing register who were in the top priority band for urgent housing. Read more on the BBC website.

Housing Shortage Blamed On Cuts to Housing Benefit

The number of households living in temporary accommodation in Oxford has risen, a council report has said. Throughout 2010/11, there were people living in 156 temporary homes but since April, there have already been 163. The report said there had been a "massive downturn" in the availability of the private-rented properties available to people on housing benefit. Deputy leader of the Labour-run city council, Ed Turner, said it related directly to cuts in housing benefits. Leslie Dewhurst, the director of charity Oxford Homeless Pathways, which looks after single people made homeless, said: "The rate of housing benefit that is payable to private landlords is being reduced which means that a lot of private landlords are simply deciding not to let their properties to people on housing benefit. "Public sector spending cuts are beginning to really bite and certainly in Oxford we will see some big changes over the next year or so." Read more on the BBC website.

Authority to License All HMOs

A council has become the first to require every house in multiple occupation to be licensed. Oxford Council already licenses larger three storey HMOs that contain five or more tenants and currently over 600 HMO licences have been issued, but an additional licensing scheme has been introduced that means every HMO in the city will need to obtain a licence. From today (24 January), all three or more storey HMOs in Oxford will require a licence, plus all two storey HMOs that contain five or more tenants. All remaining HMOs will require a licence from January next year. It is estimated that this will involve licensing approximately 4000 properties in total. Read more on Inside Housing.