Sir – There may be a shortage of new housing going up in Oxford, but there is no shortage of new student blocks going up in the city, partly as a response to ‘studentification’ concerns, but mostly to council pressure that students should be taken out of residential streets.

The HMO (House of Multiple Occupation) registration process is also geared in this direction, aiming to ultimately reduce the number of shared houses in the city by restricting the number of HMO licences granted in each street and refusing their transferral to new ownership upon sale or HMOs reverting back to HMOs if temporarily rented out for family use (although up to 70 per cent of shared housing is actually inhabited by workers and young professionals who cannot get on to the property ladder).

Reducing student numbers in shared houses should therefore theoretically reduce pressure on private housing in the city.

In practice, this idea faces two major hurdles: 1: No one can prevent students growing up, and wishing to move out of halls and into the community to become more independent is part of the transition to adulthood 2: Shared housing remains the most affordable option for them.

Perhaps some such halls will have to reduce their prices and find another use — such as shared accommodation for private individuals in the city. One or two private partnership halls have already folded or been taken over in Bradford and Leeds when supply outstripped demand.

As for private housing, I suggest Oxford City Council needs to be more pro-active about tackling the problem of empty properties, particularly flats above retail premises.

Laura King, Sandford-on-Thames