Page 12 - OCF Oxfordshire Uncovered

COMMUNITY SOLUTIONS
Oxfordshire Community Land Trust (OCLT)
There is an urgent need for housing that is genuinely affordable in the short term, but also in perpetuity. OCLT has a vision to create a vibrant sector of community-owned, permanently affordable homes.
Across Oxford city and the county, land costs are very high. This is a root cause of high house prices, and makes it almost impossible to build affordable homes. One way to get round this is to remove land from the market and hold it in a trust speci cally for the provision of permanently affordable homes.
The land would be owned by the trust, which would in turn
lease the land to clusters of local people (set up as co-ops, co- housing, custom-build or self-build) for them to build permanently affordable homes.
OCF is currently exploring with OCLT how best to inspire philanthropic support into the development of such schemes and/ or the donation of land sites.
“Some of the reason it is hard to recruit planners is because the city needs affordable housing.”
Ruth Wilkinson, Oxford City Councillor
Oxfordshire Uncovered
AFFORDABLE HOUSING
Affordable housing is often described as housing sold or rented at 80% of market value. The problem with this de nition is that it does not take into consideration in ated house prices, levels of income or housing bene t. What is more, since 1994 the number of council houses available to rent in Oxfordshire has decreased by more than 75%. Housing association stock has grown, but not enough to meet demand.
54% of people in Oxfordshire can only afford social housing rent or below – or in other words, over half of people cannot afford so-called ‘affordable housing’ at all. Market rent across Oxfordshire is about double the national average. The council says it is nearly impossible to nd private landlords accepting housing bene t as payment.
To purchase a property requires an annual household income of around £60,000 on average. Less than a quarter of Oxfordshire households have an income at this level.
The demand for social and truly affordable housing is extraordinary. The backlog of demand includes 7,000 households living in ‘unsuitable housing’ – that is: in ill repair, overcrowded or costing too high a proportion of the household income.
According to the Strategic Housing Market Assessment carried out for the county council in 2014, plans for housing growth (set at 2,887 new homes per year) would need to be almost doubled to meet demand.
This issue has the greatest impact on the lower- to middle- income population, including Oxfordshire’s key workers: teachers, nurses, social workers, bus drivers – people with a direct role in keeping the county moving and thriving. These people now nd it prohibitively expensive to live in Oxford, leading to many organisations having to use expensive temporary staff (including, ironically, the council’s own planning team), or suffering high levels of staff turnover.
Businesses are also nding it dif cult to recruit and retain
staff, particularly trainees or lower-skilled workers. Oxford
Bus Company are nding it so hard to recruit that they are considering building a dormitory so they can attract drivers from
further a eld. The lack of affordable housing will, in the long term, damage business growth and the local economy.
This instability has an adverse effect on the services delivered, and on the social wellbeing of Oxfordshire’s population, especially children and the vulnerable.
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