From daily News Line in Britain:
Tuesday, 28 May 2013
BEDROOM TAX EVICTIONS!
FAMILIES failing to pay their rent because of the ‘bedroom tax’ are already being threatened with eviction, just weeks after it came into force.
Thousands of people are at risk of losing their homes as councils and housing associations clamp down on those in rent arrears.
Data from 107 local authorities shows that 86,000 households have been forced to look for one-bedroom homes, of which only 33,000 have become available in the past year.
False Economy, the trade union-backed campaign, used freedom of information laws to get the data.
A spokesman said: ‘The disparity between the demand for one-bed housing and a whole year’s worth of supply is so severe that there is little hope of plugging the shortfall.’
The False Economy spokesman went on: ‘Tens of thousands are facing a crisis’.
Councils in many areas began sending notice of arrears letters within weeks of the Bedroom Tax coming in on 1st April, many of which threaten eviction in the long-term if rent is not paid.
The Bedroom Tax has so far affected around 600,000 families nationwide.
They have seen an average of £14 a week cut from their housing benefit.
14 per cent of a tenant’s housing benefit is removed for having one ‘spare’ bedroom and 25 per cent for having two or more.
David Orr, Chief Executive of the National Housing Federation, said: ‘For some the only option is to move into homes for private rent, which in many parts of the country are much higher than social rents.’
He went on: ‘The Bedroom Tax is an ill-thought-through and unfair policy that will cause distress for hundreds of thousands of people forced to move from homes and communities in which they have lived for years.
‘It must be scrapped now.’
Homeless charity Crisis Chief Executive Leslie Morphy said: ‘Without enough one-bedroom homes to move into, tens of thousands are powerless to avoid the anxiety, debt and arrears caused by the Bedroom Tax.
‘Our fear is that many, through no fault of their own, will in the end become homeless as a direct result.’
UK’s “Bedroom Tax” drives grandmother to suicide: here.
Related articles
- Bedroom tax ‘could make thousands of poor people homeless’ (guardian.co.uk)
- Bedroom tax ‘could make thousands of poor people homeless’ (ukhomelessnessblog.wordpress.com)
- Ten lessons landlords should learn about the bedroom tax (guardian.co.uk)
- Blind widow threatened with eviction from home over £117 unpaid bedroom tax bill (dailyrecord.co.uk)
- Bedroom tax picnic protest planned (24dash.com)
- Council apologises over tenant ‘bedroom tax’ eviction letter (local.stv.tv)
- Councils send out eviction letters, but face resistance over bedroom tax (socialistworker.co.uk)
- British bedroom tax kills a grandmother (dearkitty1.wordpress.com)
Pingback: Shine On Award, thanks Tazein and Anil! | Dear Kitty. Some blog
Pingback: Shine On Award, thanks Giovanna! | Dear Kitty. Some blog
Pingback: British police steals homeless people’s sleeping bags and food | Dear Kitty. Some blog
Pingback: Versatile Blogger Award, thanks Julianne Victoria! | Dear Kitty. Some blog
Pingback: British poetry in opposition | Dear Kitty. Some blog
Pingback: Shine On Award, thanks Mush! | Dear Kitty. Some blog
Pingback: Bedroom tax bullying of Scottish heart attack victim | Dear Kitty. Some blog
Pingback: British government makes its subjects cave-dwellers | Dear Kitty. Some blog
Pingback: Scottish women freedom fighters’ history | Dear Kitty. Some blog
Pingback: Feeding homeless people, a crime in Los Angeles? | Dear Kitty. Some blog
Pingback: Welsh disabled man’s anti-bedroom tax victory | Dear Kitty. Some blog
Pingback: Cold winter kills American homeless | Dear Kitty. Some blog
Pingback: New York City’s homeless suffer in cold winter | Dear Kitty. Some blog
Pingback: Britons keep fighting against bedroom tax | Dear Kitty. Some blog
Pingback: British young people’s homelessness | Dear Kitty. Some blog
Pingback: Sick man jailed because of British bedroom tax | Dear Kitty. Some blog