HUNDREDS of families could be denied a home in Oxford because of plans to sell off the most valuable council properties, the Oxford Mail can reveal.

The money raised from selling council homes to the tenants under the Right to Buy scheme will fund the Government’s proposal to expand the policy, giving housing association tenants the same discount when buying their home.

But Oxford City Council has warned the city’s housing market – one of the most expensive in the UK – would mean it would be among the worst hit by the policy.

In a stark warning, city council chief executive Peter Sloman said it was “the most serious issue the council has faced in recent years”.

He told the Oxford Mail: “Over 10 years we could lose half of all our re-lets, meaning families on the waiting list will be waiting considerably longer.

“We will also still have a statutory responsibility to house the homeless.

“It could create real social problems for the city.”

Senior city council staff are also concerned there is no guarantee money raised through sales of council homes in Oxford would be reinvested into housing association homes in the city.

The local authority estimates it could lose 150 of its council homes a year to the sales, leaving low- income families on the waiting list for longer and exacerbating the chronic housing shortage.

And there are fears the loss of properties could eventually prevent the council from building any new council homes.

Tessa Jack, 22, has been on the housing waiting list for the last three years and is temporarily living in supported accommodation in Cowley Road with six other women.

Miss Jack, who has been signed off work by doctors due to depression, is also 32 weeks pregnant and has been offered homes by the city council outside the county.

She said: “My support workers have been fighting to keep me in the city but I can’t live in supported accommodation with a child.

“It is really stressful and depressing because you don’t know where you are going to go or if you will even have somewhere to go.

“You don’t feel like you can settle down properly and although I am excited about having a daughter I am also very anxious about the realities of the extra pressures it will bring.

“I want to stay close to my family and friends but if I was moved away I am worried I might not have enough money to travel to see them.”

The city council rents about 7,800 homes and there are about 3,500 people on the housing waiting list.

But the Government’s proposals would force it to sell its most valuable properties when they became vacant to pay for the expansion of the right-to-buy scheme.

Oxford East MP Andrew Smith warned it would be “a disaster” for the city. He said: “Hundreds more families will be condemned to endless waiting for a home and force the housing of still more Oxford people into towns and cities miles away from where they grew up and their families.”

But Housing Minister Brandon Lewis defended the policy. “Anyone who works hard and wants to own their own home should have the opportunity to do so and right to buy helps thousands of people and families achieve their dream,” he said. “It is important that councils make the best use of their assets and manage their housing stock as efficiently as possible.”

City council leaders are set to lobby the Government for a series of changes to the proposals.

They want assurances that cash from Oxford council home sales would be invested back into housing in the city as well as an exemption from a proposed regional value threshold by which sales would be decided.