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Issue 314 July 2013
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THE REAL IMPACT OF THE BEDROOM TAX
T
he bedroom tax is having a devastating impact in one of the poorest areas of the country and is failing to achieve the Government’s ambition of freeing up extra social housing, a new report has revealed. Less than 100 days into the policy’s implementation, thousands of families in Merseyside are spiralling into debt for the first time and are facing an impossible dilemma – to pay the bedroom tax and face financial hardship, or to try to downsize despite there being a huge local shortfall in smaller homes. Based on new figures collected by the National Housing Federation from 18 housing associations across Merseyside that collectively own more than 130,000 properties in the area, The Bedroom Tax in Merseyside: 100 days on has revealed that: • During the first four weeks of the bedroom tax coming into force more than 14,000 Merseyside households fell into arrears with their rent. For nearly 6,000 it was the first time they had ever spiralled into rental debt. • Nearly 26,500 households in Merseyside are being impacted by the bedroom tax yet due to a shortage of smaller homes only 155 managed to downsize into housing association properties in April 2013. • More than £22 million which could be used to build desperately needed new homes across Merseyside will be lost this financial year as a result of the financial impact on housing associations of the bedroom tax. Disabled people are bearing the brunt of the changes, with an estimated 19,055 disabled people in Merseyside losing over £13 million a year due to the bedroom tax.
Many of these residents live in homes that have been adapted to meet their needs, a time consuming and costly process, and may now have to move. Meanwhile, Government support to help vulnerable people affected by the bedroom tax through Discretionary Housing Payments is proving a short-term fix, with some Merseyside residents receiving grants for just three months. The Government hopes the cut to people’s housing benefit will encourage under-occupying families to look for smaller homes. The idea is that they swap homes with those needing more space – and so reduce overcrowding. Yet across the North West the number of households who will be hit by the bedroom tax outnumbers families living in
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“Housing associations warned the Government from the start that the bedroom tax would not work and that families would face financial hardship” over-crowded accommodation by more than four to one. This raises the prospect of tens of thousands of families being forced to try and find a smaller property to avoid the bedroom tax despite there being no local reason for them to do so. Research by the Merseyside housing associations shows that families want to stay near their local support networks and relatives. But due to a shortage of smaller • CONTINUED ON PAGE 7