Sir – In the debate about Oxford’s housing crisis, the impact on those renting is often overlooked.

Yet, new research by the Green Party shows that the rental market in Oxford is spiralling out of control and has become deeply exploitative. It now costs, on average, £15,240 per year to rent a one bedroom flat. Gross average salaries in the city are just £24,000. In other words, well over half of a tenant’s pre-tax earnings are being spent on rent.

And, unlike homeowners, tenants get no benefit from increasing property values.

This is why the Green Party are campaigning for the introduction of rent controls and more secure tenancies for those in the private rented sector.

Ann Duncan
Magdalen Road, Oxford