Oxford City Council is set to approve plans that would see more than 350 affordable rented homes in Barton Park become council housing.
At its next meeting on Wednesday 16 October, Cabinet is expected to agree the £33.4 million sale of 168 completed OX Place homes to the housing revenue account (HRA).
Cabinet is also expected to budget £39.7 million from 2024/25 to 2027/28 to buy another 184 affordable homes directly from developers to let as council housing.
Cabinet’s decision will need to be ratified at full Council on Monday 25 November.
Existing tenancies will then become secure council tenancies when they are transferred to the HRA on 2 December. The remaining 184 affordable homes will be let on secure council tenancies to people on the housing register when they are ready to live in.
Benefits for tenants
As a service level agreement with Landlord Services means the Council already manages the day-to-day running of OX Place tenancies, tenants are unlikely to notice any changes in the management of their tenancies.
OX Place homes were already let at social rent – the most affordable tenure, which typically works out at around 40% of private rents in Oxford – and this will not change.
When the existing residents become council tenants they will gain new rights to arrange a mutual exchange of their home or exercise the right to buy. Spouses, partners or close family members living with a tenant when they die will also gain the right to inherit ('succeed') their tenancy.
OX Place will gift any furniture or appliances rented through the furnished tenancy scheme so tenants own them outright.
Wider benefits
When work to build the first homes at Barton Park started in 2015, government finance restrictions meant councils could not use the HRA to fund the building of affordable council homes. Instead, the Council used low-cost borrowing to finance Barton Park’s affordable homes from its general fund. This meant they could not be council housing.
The lifting of borrowing restrictions in 2018 removed this need. Sale of OX Place homes to the HRA will allow the repayment of loans and allow the housing company to focus on its primary aim – delivering affordable council and shared ownership homes.
The HRA is a ring-fenced account which can only be spent on council housing. Its main source of income is rent and service charges. The addition of more than 350 homes will represent a significant boost to the HRA’s current asset base of around 7,800 council homes.
This will – over time – help the Council to do more to improve homes and estates, deliver affordable housing and satisfy other demands like retrofitting older homes to modern energy efficiency standards.
More immediate benefits include reducing the complexity of managing Barton Park, while agreeing to buy future homes directly into the HRA will reduce administrative costs and deliver savings on stamp duty land tax.
Comment
“Government borrowing restrictions back in 2015 meant we wouldn’t have been able to deliver Barton Park without putting the affordable homes in the care of our housing company, OX Place. This measure is no longer needed and it’s now time to formally bring the affordable homes in Barton Park under the Council’s direct ownership and control.
“This is a good thing for everyone. Tenants will still be paying social rent and get more rights. OX Place will be free to focus on building high-quality affordable homes. The HRA will gain more than 350 new homes and the rent their tenants pay will make a valuable contribution to our plans for delivering more council homes and improving our existing properties.”
Councillor Linda Smith, Cabinet Member for Housing and Communities
“We welcome the transfer of tenancies at Barton Park to the HRA. This will allow OX Place to focus on the development of new homes across Oxford.
We want OX Place to be Oxford’s developer of choice. It is committed to creating beautiful and varied homes in and around our city."
Councillor Susan Brown, Leader of Oxford City Council and Shareholder of OX Place
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