Editor’s note: This is an update on our October 2024 news article Affordable housing for local people.
Last year, we announced our long-awaited collaboration with Thame Community Land Trust, Thame Town Council, South Oxfordshire District Council to provide much needed quality affordable homes for local people in Thame.
We’re pleased to share a preliminary sketch of the site, which will feature in our resident magazine Hometalk when it drops through letterboxes next month.
Each home will be allocated by SODC to people local to the Thame area or those with a strong connection, reflecting the local residency clauses devised by the Trust. You can more about these clauses in the s.106 agreement here.
Thame Community Land Trust (TCLT) was founded by local Thame residents in 2018 and supported by Thame Town Council and the Community Housing Fund. They aim to build genuinely affordable housing for local people who are unable to access homes through the open market or social housing. We’re dedicated to realising the Trust’s original design vision for the project, which includes 31 new homes —16 for social* rent and 15 for shared ownership — constructed to net zero carbon standards.
This is the third time that Soha has worked with a Community Land Trust, previous projects being in Oxford and Hook Norton. Trusts choose to partner with Soha for its development expertise, the ability to secure necessary finance to deliver the scheme and its access to social housing grant from Homes England. We’re very excited for this project, and expect the homes to be ready in 2027.
Looking to buy a home in South Oxfordshire before then?
We have plenty of new and resale homes for sale at www.sohahomeownership.co.uk. The new releases of two- and three-bedroom shared ownership properties at the popular Chiltern Grange development in Benson, are available to reserve off plan now! Contact sales@soha.co.uk for more information.
*Initially these homes were set to be affordable rent, but Homes England – the giver of the grant – decided they should be social rent. Read about the difference between social and affordable rent here.