Draft housing, homelessness and rough sleeping strategy 2023-2028

We have held public consultation on a five-year plan to tackle our city’s housing and homelessness crisis.

Our draft housing, homelessness and rough sleeping strategy 2023-2028 sets out our intentions to provide more affordable and low carbon homes, improve conditions for renters in all tenures and go further in preventing homelessness and rough sleeping.

As the housing authority for Oxford, we are legally required to have a homelessness strategy and a strategy on rough sleeping. While there is no legal need for a housing strategy, there is a strong correlation between housing, homelessness and rough sleeping.

Last year we undertook a review of housing and homelessness which produced an evidence base, a draft vision and five emerging priorities. These were endorsed in an initial round of public consultation last summer.

Vision and priorities

Our vision for the new combined strategy is:

‘By 2028, addressing Oxford’s need for more affordable housing, improving the standard of housing in the city while lowering its carbon impact, with services and partnerships that are focussed on preventing people losing their homes, rapidly rehouse those who become homeless, and ending the need to sleep rough.’

The five priority areas flowing from this vision are:

providing more, affordable homes
great homes for all
housing for a net zero carbon future
preventing homelessness and adopting a rapid rehousing response
ending rough sleeping

The end of pandemic support measures and a rapidly unfolding cost of living crisis are likely to increase demand for council services in what is already a challenging financial climate. Continued service transformation and partnership working will be paramount in helping us rise to these challenges and deliver solutions to our five priorities.

Providing more, affordable homes

Our housing company OX Place will deliver the biggest council house building programme since the 1970s
Working with housing associations, our target is for 1,600 new affordable homes by the end of 2025/26 – with at least 850 of these let at social rent
We will also continue to work with neighbouring councils to help ensure that more affordable housing is built in and around Oxford

Great homes for all

Our tenants will have more say in the way their homes and communities are managed
Our services will use the experience of supporting Oxford residents during the pandemic to become more locally focused
We are investing £51m on improvements to estates, maintenance and refurbishments and improvements to estates in the next four years
Adoption of a citywide selective licensing scheme in September means Oxford is the only council in England requiring a licence for all private rented homes – our licensing schemes will improve conditions for private rented tenants

Housing for a net zero carbon future

OX Place’s new homes will be a key part of delivering this priority
Standards for new developments will go beyond government targets, with OX Place aiming for zero carbon by the end of this decade
We will invest £8.7m to improve energy efficiency in council homes
We will also work to improve energy ratings for privately rented and owner occupied homes

Preventing homelessness and adopting a rapid rehousing response

We will put this priority at the heart of our services
Early, joined-up intervention will sustain tenancies and prevent people from becoming homeless
Where this is unavoidable, we will help people into a stable, suitable home as quickly as possible

Ending rough sleeping

Ending rough sleeping is also a national priority and we aim to ensure that nobody should have to sleep rough in Oxford
A new £3.8m ‘housing led’ service tackling homelessness across Oxfordshire was launched in April
The Oxfordshire Homelessness Alliance’s default model for preventing and reducing rough sleeping is to provide settled homes as a first step in the road away from life on the streets