Oxford City Council is letting six new homes for social rent in the first phase of a development that will include 45 council homes.
Developers Abbey New Homes handed over the six three-bedroom houses at Sandford Road to the council last month.
When the development is complete next autumn, the 45 council homes will be made up of 5 one-bedroom flats, 19 two-bedroom flats, 7 three-bedroom flats, another 4 three-bedroom houses (10 in total) and 4 four-bedroom houses.
The finished 141 home development will also include 25 flats for key workers. This means that half of all homes will be affordable – in line with the council’s requirements for new developments.
The allocations team is in the process of letting the new homes to applicants on the housing register. They are being allocated to a mix of council tenants on the transfer list and other families in housing need.
All six homes will be let at social rent, which is calculated as half the cost of market rents in the local area plus any service charges for communal facilities.
For these homes, the social rent is just under £600 a month. According to the Office for National Statistics, in 2019/20 the median private rent for three-bedroom properties across Oxford was £1,500 a month.
Councillor Mike Rowley, cabinet member for affordable housing and housing the homeless, said: “Oxford desperately needs more genuinely affordable housing, and I’m really pleased that we’re now letting these six new council homes to families on our waiting list. Every home for social rent makes a small but vital contribution to tackling systemic inequality and improving opportunities for our tenants.”
