Oxford City Council’s Cabinet has approved plans for three developments that propose to deliver 78 new affordable homes across the city.
This includes 48 homes for temporary accommodation to help reduce the use of hotels for people experiencing homelessness.
The three schemes, in Cowley, East Oxford and Wood Farm, will see underused council land and a vacant former timber yard brought back into use to provide much-needed affordable housing.
The developments are:
- Kersington Crescent: 28 new flats on a site currently occupied by underused council garages, providing 20 homes for social rent and eight for affordable rent. The construction is to be managed by OX Place, the council’s wholly owned housing company, and the Council intends to apply for a Homes England grant
- 474 Cowley Road: 47 one-bedroom flats on the former Powells timber yard site, plus an existing refurbished house by the entrance, to be purchased on completion from the developer. All for social rent and to be used as temporary accommodation for single homeless adults. Additional support is to also be provided, and an application made for grant from Homes England
- 26 Stubbs Avenue: two new council homes for social rent on the site of a council property destroyed by fire in March 2025 – a grant application to be made for the one additional home
Together, the schemes will provide 78 new affordable homes, with the council directly delivering or acquiring homes on brownfield land sites that are currently vacant, underused or in need of redevelopment.
The Kersington Crescent development is part of a wider 'small sites programme' and will replace 58 council garages with 28 new flats subject to planning permission. Two flats will be suitable for wheelchair users. The development scheme, managed by OX Place, will make use of an underused council-owned garage site while increasing the supply of homes available at social and affordable rents.
The 48 homes planned for the former Powells timber yard will provide much-needed temporary accommodation for single people experiencing homelessness who need additional support to move towards permanent, settled housing.
At Stubbs Avenue, the council will replace a fire-damaged bungalow with two new semi-detached homes for social rent – a four-bedroom home and a two-bedroom home.
Homes will be built to modern energy-efficiency standards, including air-source heat pumps and solar panels.
The approvals form part of Oxford City Council’s wider programme to increase the supply of genuinely affordable housing across the city. The council’s four-year Affordable Housing Supply Programme aims to deliver more than 1,600 affordable homes, including at least 850 for social rent.
Oxford Needs Homes
More than 4,000 families are now on the Oxford City Council Housing Register waiting for social housing. This underlines the urgent need for more genuinely affordable homes in the city.
The latest figures show 4,068 applicants are registered for social housing in Oxford, as demand continues to far exceed the supply of available homes. Around half the need is for one-bedroom homes (2,035) while two and three beds amount to 1,761 which is 43% of applications. We receive an average of 160 new applications a month.
This high figure comes amid wider housing pressures, with Oxford’s high housing costs making it increasingly difficult for residents to find a secure, affordable place to live.
Centre for Cities’ Cities Outlook 2026 report placed Oxford top amongst the UK’s least affordable cities, while ONS figures show that average private rents in Oxford reached £1,963 a month in August 2026.
More than 500 households at risk of homelessness were placed in temporary accommodation during 2025/26. A further 996 households were given additional preference on the register due to overcrowding.
Comment
“We are responding to Oxford's housing crisis by utilising every bit of suitable land across the city. We’re taking a former timber yard and turning it into 48 homes for temporary accommodation that will help people at risk of homelessness move towards a settled home without relying on expensive hotel accommodation.
“We’re also making better use of land the council owns through our small sites programme. In this case that means replacing underused garages at Kersington Crescent with 28 much-needed affordable homes, and rebuilding at Stubbs Avenue after a council home was lost to fire.
“These are three very different sites, but they all have something in common – they are opportunities to provide homes for people who need them at time when demand has never been so high.
“There is a huge need for affordable housing in Oxford, and we know we cannot solve that overnight. But brick by brick, site by site, we are delivering the homes Oxford needs.”
Councillor Linda Smith Cabinet Member for Housing and Communities
