British domestic violence victims threatened by bedroom tax

This music video from Britain is called Bedroom Tax Song: You Cannae Have A Spare Room in a Pokey Cooncil Flat.

From daily The Morning Star in Britain:

Violence victims’ safe rooms ‘should be exempt from bedroom tax‘

Wednesday 30th April 2014

Domestic violence victims living in social housing fitted with safe rooms should be exempt from the so-called “bedroom tax,” an MP demanded yesterday.

Labour’s Alison Seabeck said victims who have had the security measures installed, but have an extra bedroom, are being forced to move from places of safety due the Con-Dem tax.

But such “sanctuary rooms” and protections can be the difference between life and death, she said.

Moving home also leaves victims vulnerable to further abuse and has a destabilising effect.

Bringing forward her Safe and Sanctuary Rooms (Exemption from Under-Occupancy Penalty) Bill, she said that abuse victims also faced a “postcode lottery” as different councils dealt with the issue in different ways.

Parliament heard that exempting such homes from paying extra for spare rooms would also be inexpensive as only around 280 homes are affected and securing a smaller home would be costly in itself.

PETS AND DOMESTIC VIOLENCE “‘Pets are the silent victims for abusers who want to exert extreme power and control,’ as Rita Garza of the NYC nonprofit Urban Resource Institute later told me. ‘This happens all the time.’ But despite this issue, most domestic violence shelters only take humans — no pets are allowed.” [HuffPost]