'bedroom Tax' - Anyone Agree With It?

[Gromit]

The so called 'Bedroom Tax' starts today. Anyone receiving Housing Benefit (HB) who has a spare room will have their HB reduced.

Will it solve the housing shortage?
or
Is it a cynical stealthy way to cut the benefits bill?

[sandyRoe]

The government is giving local councils 10% less to help people on low incomes pay their council tax bills.
Here's a posh LOndon borough's take on it.

http://www.rbkc.gov.uk/adviceandbenefits/housingbenefit/changestocounciltaxbenefit.aspx

[EDDIE51]

Not quite part of the question but for a house owner to downsize after the children have left home is common. They sell the large house and move to one of the 'retirement scheme' flats that are beng built all over the place now. These schemes are normally only available to people over 50 .
I know a couple whose 3 children have left home so they have just moved into a mobile home on the coast. They bought the mobile outright for £15,000 and say it is the best thing they have ever done. The sale of the house paid for the mobile and left a large sum in the bank.

[ummmm]

Oh...okay. It won't have an effect on us then.

[tonyav]

Ah right sandy, thanks for that. Now I know why my council tax has gone up.

[ummmm]

My son delivers the papers to a retirement village. It's lovely. I'd happily sell up and move into one when we get older.

[tonyav]

Walsall council have put a rise on the council tax this year after freezing it for about 3 years.

[ummmm]

I don't even know how much ours is :-/

[sandyRoe]

Ummmm, you'd be happy to move voluntarily but how would you feel if you were pressed into relocating?

[ummmm]

I really don't know, Sandy. We own our home and only have a small mortgage. I suppose it's easy to have an opinion when you haven't got that worry.

[daffy654]

EDDIE51, that is all well and good if you own your home, we are talking about local authority/social housing tenants here as they are the only ones affected by the housing benefit changes.

[anneasquith]

i do feel very sorry for anyone who is effected by this new tax. not all of us are lucky enough to own our property. but reading this thread i do think DT did get a '' hard time''.

[China Doll]

DT didn't get any harder a time than she deserved for her outrageous and ill informed statements. Stop stirring.

I know people are upset about this bedroom tax because it isn't really going to save much more money for the goverment; but I go back to a point I made about families in hostels or tiny places because there is no housing for them to go to.

After reading through this thread again, I maintain my original stance which is it needs a lot of tweaking which should have been done first, and more thought should have gone in to one bedroom properties. But fundamentally I'm not opposed to the idea as why should families have to wait in hostels or awful conditions because someone else is living in social housing much bigger than their need? That seems unfair too.

[joko]

em, surely you dont have to find your own new house - if its another council house then they will have you on a list and provide you with another one when it is found... and if as everyone claims there are not many available then you not have to move for a very long time...

[joko]

do people with long term rent agreements have any more rights than people with short term ones?

or are they classed as just plain old tenants regardless



it does seem like many people seem to forget that they do not own the house no matter how long they live there, and feel they have more rights to it and to stay as long as they want.

[lcg]

i agree with it fully. after spending the last 9 years on the housing list ans in financial distress from my sky-high rent.....i'd quite like the opportunity to have a council house/flat. but i don't think it will ever happen.....i don't have a pension or any savings because 75% of my wages are spent on rent. how is that fair for me? i am a trained nurse.....i think it's disgusting that i get paid so little.

[Old_Geezer]

I can see the reasons for it, but I don't think it is the right way to go about things. Better by far to not get concerned over the number of rooms someone is renting. Any "safety Net" benefit payment should proportional to the number of citizens society is temporarily helping out until they manage to get off of such benefits; whilst the rent for a property should be based on that property. After that folk sort themselves out as to whether they can afford a residence or not.

The real issue is too many people to house (and supply other services for), not, who can you can shuffle and generally make things unpleasant for in a vain attempt to house the folk who have no place of their own. Until the cause of the issue is tackled, "shuffling the deck chairs on the Titanic" won't achieve a lot, and the problem will only get worse.

[Old_Geezer]

Page 20 ?!? In a day ?!?

[emmie]

icg, then blame the councils for the following, allowing families who have just arrived to take social housing, it happened and continues to do so, it's a policy that has been known about for years and they admit they are obliged to do, families come first.. Not something dreamt up by those far right nasties... that all the councils have lots of properties on their books that need some restoration, that they could have done and haven't. They have let rot such nice properties here in the capital, good homes for families that need some renovation. It's no good them bleating we have no money to do these things, many do, our council has a sizeable underspend, and instead of doing the right thing by getting people into these homes they don't, so they remain in B&B's or hostels.
The idiocy of this policy has already been pointed out, that even if i found a 1 bed place tomorrow, the council will allow me a full rent rebate, yet that could be double the rent that i currently pay, or get help with.
This has been rushed through, it doesn't just need tweaking, it needs rethinking, it won't be, and we will get the blame, for having one bedroom too many, or simply being social housing tenants.
Next stop selling any more council places, they are still doing it, ours does, you see the properties in the local paper, why do it if they have people who need a home, makes no sense.

[pastafreak]

I think it has already been stated in various places in the media,that there is a very strong likelihood that those who cannot pay will find themselves homeless,and/or in temporary accomodation due to the shortage of suitable properties.
According to this article-as many as 660,000 new one bed properties are needed to cover the shortfall.

http://www.thecourier.co.uk/news/scotland/fear-thousands-could-be-evicted-because-of-bedroom-tax-1.80732

I think there is going to be some very rough times ahead-and the welfare burden will surely increase due to this poorly thought out policy.

[mackemgas]

as it is just a tory way of cutting benefits