THE county demand for housing is considerably less than suggested by the Strategic Housing Market Assessment (Oxford Mail, November 18)

Since this assessment suggests that over 73 per cent of Oxfordshire’s housing is under-occupied, the main action on housing by district councils in the county should be to buy homes as they become available.

They should then be converted into flats or maisonettes as necessary, to meet social housing and key worker needs.

In this way, we could be making better use of existing housing rather than relying on the very low rates of housing completions across the county.

The Strategic Housing Market Assessment (SHMA) also erroneously assumes new jobs in Oxfordshire means more people can afford to move here, despite current astronomical housing prices and rents.

It is much more likely that new well-paid jobs in our county will lead to more commuting into Oxfordshire, and more teleworking.

This means new homes are not needed for each new job.

As the Oxford Mail has repeatedly reported, fantastic increases in household income would be needed for home purchase to be possible for most existing Oxfordshire residents seeking to buy.

In short, the housing market in Oxfordshire is a failure and councils need to take a larger role in meeting housing needs using the county’s immense brownfield housing reserve of long-term empty shopfronts, offices and industrial sites – and by building apartments above car parks.

However, until we have a Government which makes funding local government to meet housing needs a priority, really affordable housing in Oxfordshire will be for the few, not the many.

STEVE DAWE
Oxfordshire Green Party
Bulan Road, Oxford