Oxford City Council has approved three housing developments set to provide 78 affordable homes in Cowley, East Oxford and Wood Farm.
Forty-eight of the properties are intended for temporary accommodation, reducing reliance on hotel placements for people facing homelessness.
The projects will make use of underused council land and the former Powells timber yard.
Linda Smith, cabinet member for housing and communities, said the council was identifying suitable sites to address Oxford’s housing pressures.
The development at Kersington Crescent in Cowley will include 28 flats on land occupied by underused council garages.
Twenty will be offered at social rent and eight at affordable rent, with two designed to meet wheelchair users’ needs.
This scheme forms part of the council’s small sites programme and is being overseen by OX Place, the council’s housing company.
At 474 Cowley Road, 47 one-bedroom flats and a refurbished house are planned for the former Powells timber yard.
Every property would be let at social rent.
The homes would provide supported temporary accommodation for single homeless adults, helping residents progress towards more permanent housing.
In Wood Farm, the fire-damaged bungalow at 26 Stubbs Avenue will be replaced by two council homes for social rent.
The new properties will comprise one four-bedroom house and one two-bedroom house.
Each of the 78 homes will meet modern energy-efficiency standards, with air-source heat pumps and solar panels included in the construction.
The developments contribute to Oxford City Council’s affordable housing supply programme, which has a target of delivering more than 1,600 affordable homes over four years.
At least 850 of these are planned to be provided at social rent.
Demand for social housing in Oxford remains exceptionally high.
The housing register currently contains 4,068 applicants, with roughly half seeking one-bedroom homes.
A further 1,761 applicants need properties with two or three bedrooms, while the council receives an average of 160 new applications each month.
High living costs and restricted housing availability continue to place pressure on the city.
Oxford was recently named the least affordable city in the UK in the Centre for Cities’ Cities Outlook 2026 report.
Smith said the three developments offered an opportunity to increase housing supply despite unprecedented demand.
She acknowledged that the scale of the need could not be resolved immediately, but said the council was continuing to deliver homes through individual sites and construction projects.