Anneliese Dodds, Labour MP for Oxford East, today called for more serious action to be taken by government to help combat Oxford’s housing crisis.
This came as figures from the charity Shelter have revealed that the number of people renting in Oxford has increased by over a fifth since 2001, to almost half of the city’s population (49%). The last seventeen years have also seen a precipitous drop in those owning their homes in our city, with outright owners, owners with a mortgage, and those in shared ownership possessing over half of all homes in 2001 (56%), down to less than 40% (39%) today.
The figures also highlight that the proportion of people who are renting in Oxford is far higher than the national average for England (28%).
Anneliese said: “Since I was elected I have been consistently campaigning for the government to wake up to the housing crisis we have in our city. The massive increase in rough sleeping numbers are only the most visible tip of an iceberg of overcrowded, unaffordable and unsuitable accommodation that many Oxford families have to endure.
This crisis is not inevitable. We need stronger protections for private renters, such as longer rental periods, an inflation cap on rent rises, and an end to the removal of housing benefit for 18 to 21 year-olds. But we also of course need to build more, especially when it comes to social and genuinely affordable homes. Here in Oxford there is a determination to work within the rules to, for example, provide 350 more new social homes at Barton Park. But the national rules themselves are out of date and privilege the interests of developers over those of people in housing need- and that has to change”.
Please click here to find Shelter’s research including its database of change in ownership across different areas: