SURPRISE! HOUSING STOCK NOWHERE NEAR ENOUGH TO SUPPORT BEDROOM TAX (OR HOW TO PICK ON THE POOR AND VULNERABLE)

The idea behind the bedroom tax is that occupants living in a council house that is classed as 'under occupied' and having at least one spare bedroom will be charged for the extra room(s), or they can move to a house with fewer rooms.

It all sounds reasonable (if you are a bona fide fascist, that is).

But what if there are no smaller houses to move to? What happens then?

Well, move to a smaller house in the much more expensive private sector? But what is the point in that?

Whoever thought of this bedroom tax is a bona fide fascist, who just wants to pick on the poor and vulnerable of society to bail out the greedy gambling banks.

It is one thing to propose it. But it is even worse to implement this despicable policy, particularly when you know that the housing stock of smaller properties is not there to support the policy.

The Government’s justification for its controversial “bedroom tax” has been debunked by new figures showing that up to 96 per cent of those affected have, in effect, nowhere to move.

The figures published today in The Independent expose the false argument behind ministerial attempts to spin the move as ending the “spare-room subsidy”, and confirm campaigners’ claims that it merely penalises poor people.

The policy means that tenants have their housing benefit reduced by 14 per cent if they have one spare bedroom, and 25 per cent if they have two or more spare bedrooms.

Yet more than 19 out of 20 families hit by the bedroom tax are trapped in their larger homes because there is nowhere smaller within the local social housing stock to take them. This is shown by figures provided by councils in response to Freedom of Information requests by the Labour Party.

...Steve Turner, executive director for policy at Unite, said: “These figures show beyond any doubt that Iain Duncan Smith has been misleading the public. He tried to spin the bedroom tax as a way of managing housing stock, but in fact it is a cruel and callous attack on some of the most vulnerable people in our communities.”

“The evidence now overwhelmingly shows that the Government has made a grave mistake with this policy. They must abandon it now before more lives are destroyed.”

[source : Revealed: ‘Big lie’ behind the bedroom tax as families trapped with nowhere to move so cannot avoid new penalty for having spare room, The Independent, http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/revealed-big-lie-behind-the-bedroom-tax-as-families-trapped-with-nowhere-to-move-so-cannot-avoid-new-penalty-for-having-spare-room-8745597.html, 5th August 2013]

This policy must be abandoned...NOW!

We have seen the misery and desolation it is causing in the sad and unnecessary story of Stephanie Bottrill.

Abandoning this detested, despicable, cowardly policy would be a sign of strength, not weakness.

Misery. Destruction. Homelessness. Just another day of joy and happiness for privileged fascist Iain Duncan Smith who lives rent free in this mansion that comes complete with tennis courts and a swimming pool, you know, the essential things in life.