Protests over 'bedroom tax' in Coventry

Campaigners opposing the government’s ‘bedroom tax’ have staged protests outside the Council House and Whitefriars Housing.



They coincided with discussions of the Whitefriars board over the policy which sees social housing tenants have benefits reduced if they are deemed to have a spare bedroom.

Those unable to pay are expected to downsize to a smaller property.

Organiser Amelia Roberts, for Coventry Against the Bedroom Tax, said: “We’ve been trying to get the community together to find out how many people are affected.

“People we’ve spoken to are in quite desperate positions. These are not just bedrooms, they are people’s homes.

“We’ve had people breaking in to tears saying they don’t have enough money for food.”

The group is calling for a ‘no eviction’ policy if the change sees tenants fall into arrears. The Telegraph reported yesterday that Coventry City Council and Whitefriars will team up to offer cash incentives for tenants who move out of properties which are too big for them. The incentives, worth up to £900, are aimed at freeing up under-occupied homes.

Those unable to pay are expected to downsize to a smaller property.

Where are all these smaller properties?

I would also like to see exactly what the definition of a bedroom is!

This policy is all well and good in theory, but the practicalities of it are very different. Yet another ill thought through idea from that nasty piece of work, Irritating Duncan Smith. IDS would like to make it a crime to be poor!

Where are all these smaller properties?

They exist Rebbonk but only in the private sector. Someone who downsizes from a three-bedroomed council house to a single-bedroom private flat can actually claim more in Housing Benefit than they did before!

I would also like to see exactly what the definition of a bedroom is!

It's basically whatever the landlord or housing association say it is. They could for example reclassify a bedroom as a dining room or dressing room and charge exactly the same rent as before.

It's also very difficult to prove exactly how many people really live in a property at any one time and I suspect fraudulent declarations of family size will now become widespread.

The DWP's own prediction was that 80% of those affected by the new tax would stay put and pay the extra.

Many local authorities and housing associations have simply reclassified properties as having fewer bedrooms than they did previously and thus not charged tenants the new increases. This is not the case in Coventry though.

This wouldn't be the first time a government measure intended to 'save' money hasn't ended-up costing the taxpayer a great deal more in the long run. In fact I have great difficulty remembering one which didn't?

Halt 'bedroom tax' evictions now, Coventry council urged

Labour-run Coventry council has been challenged to halt evictions of social housing tenants and hard-up families resulting from the ‘bedroom tax’.

It comes in a broadside from ex-Socialist councillor and ex-city Labour MP Dave Nellist – following reports that Labour leader Ed Miliband is to pledge to scrap the ‘bedroom tax’ if Labour wins power.

Mr Nellist implored the council’s Labour leaders to do more to help tenants financially penalised and forced out of their homes by the Housing Benefit cuts imposed on those deemed to have more bedrooms than they need.

Coventry City Council’s Labour leaders have attacked the Conservative/Lib Dem government over the controversial tax – thought to be costing thousands of hard-up people in the city about £15 a week.

But they have stopped short of insisting on a “no-evictions policy” called for by the Coventry Against the Bedroom Tax campaign.

Coventry has had no social housing directly provided by the local authority since its 20,000 council housing stock was sold to housing association Whitefriars more than a decade ago.

Coventry councillors on the Whitefriars board include Tory councillor David Skinner, who has said any non-eviction policy would be a matter for Whitefriars, not the council.

Mr Nellist said it had been reported Mr Miliband was planning to announce this month that a Labour government would scrap the tax.

Mr Nellist said: “If the announcement takes place, and if it is honoured, that would be welcome. But if Labour now finally agree the bedroom tax should not exist they should immediately take measures to shield people from its consequences.

“Where councils own housing stock or where councillors sit on housing association boards, they should immediately halt enforcement measures against tenants in arrears.

“Secondly, councils should step up discretionary housing payments to all affected tenants so no one goes into arrears because of the tax.”

He added any Labour government should also refund any use of council money used to protect tenants.

He said anything less might be viewed as a “cynical attempt to shore up Labour’s weak opinion poll position in the run-up to their conference.”

Councillors have accused ministers of passing the blame amid wider cuts to councils – by underfunding council-run discretionary payment schemes compensating victims.

Conservative work and pensions secretary Iain Duncan Smith claims his policy will free up desperately-needed larger homes for bigger families, and bring housing benefit into line with the private rented market. Opponents say there are not enough smaller social homes for people to move to.

Labour set to reverse Tories’ ‘bedroom tax’

Ed Miliband will on Saturday promise to reverse the so-called “bedroom tax” if Labour gets into power after winning a tough internal battle with shadow chancellor Ed Balls over the policy.

The £470m proposal is likely to be seen as evidence that Mr Miliband is drawing up a “35 per cent” strategy through a set of left-leaning policies. This would aim at existing Labour-inclined voters and disillusioned former Lib Dems rather than trying to seduce one-time Tory voters.

Mr Miliband will say the policy has become the symbol of an out-of-touch government standing up only for the interests of a privileged few. He will say that two-thirds of the 660,000 people affected do not have the option of moving to smaller accommodation.

Ed Balls, the shadow chancellor, had resisted making the promise, having recently accepted in public that Labour would be unable to reverse most of the coalition’s cuts if it gets into power. “There has been a really big battle internally,” said one Labour source.

But Labour will say it can fund the pledge in several ways: reversing the £150m tax cut for the investment industry in April; scrapping “shares for rights”, which is open to tax avoidance; and tackling tax scams in the construction industry.

“We’ll scrap the bedroom tax by abolishing the shady schemes of tax loopholes for the privileged few which the Tories keep inventing,” Mr Miliband will say.

Alison Garnham, chief executive of the Child Poverty Action Group, hailed the news.

“It’s a cruel, flawed and costly policy that inflicts significant financial pain on some of our poorest families with children, even if through no fault of their own they aren’t able to downsize,” she said. “The writing is on the wall, whoever wins in 2015 will have to sort this mess out and put a stop to the human misery it’s creating and the costs to local authorities it’s generating.”