[Diggers350] Move or starve. Bedroom tax, largest mass eviction in UK history

Tony Gosling tony at cultureshop.org.uk
Wed Jan 30 21:04:54 GMT 2013 

Okay - as someone has pointed out to me - since the clearances?
T

At 19:44 30/01/2013, you wrote:
>
>
>Housing benefit reform will cause private rents to rise
>http://www.mortgageintroducer.com/mortgages/245279/238/Buy-to-let/Housing_benefit_reform_will_cause_private_rents_to_rise_.htm
>The government must address the conflicts in its 
>housing benefit reform policy or it will face an 
>increased benefit bill and rising private rents, 
>the Public Accounts Committee warned yesterday.
>Samantha Cordon, 4 January, 2013
>The Committee did not believe the target of 
>saving £1.9bn of housing benefit by 2014-15 and 
>the goal to prevent the £23bn spent on housing benefit was realistic.
>In a written statement it said: “When set 
>against the chronic shortage of affordable homes 
>[however] the government’s identified benefit 
>savings appear increasingly unachievable as high 
>demand pushes up private rents and social 
>landlords rely on rents of up to 80% of market rent to fund development.”
>In a report by the National Housing, Home Truths 
>2012, it was claimed that last year 111,250 new 
>homes were built while 390,000 new households were formed.
>The Committee said with home ownership beyond 
>the reach of many and the cost of renting 
>privately rising by 37% over the past five years 
>it was unsurprising that one in 12 families was 
>now on a social housing waiting list.
>The statement added: “The falling off of new 
>housing supply combined with the increase in 
>rents in both the private rented sector and the 
>affordable rent regime generates pressure on the 
>housing benefit budget bringing more households 
>into dependence on it, including those in work.
>“This will only continue and will lead to the 
>savings indentified by DWP being missed. This 
>conflict in government policy needs addressing.”
>
>Bedroom tax? Never heard of it says Tory MP who voted for it
>http://www.channel4.com/news/bedroom-tax-never-heard-of-it-says-tory-mp-who-voted-for-it
>Ciaran Jenkins - Reporter
>Conservative MP Mark Field admits he has not 
>heard of a new bedroom tax which will affect 
>hundreds of thousands of social housing tenants, 
>even though he voted in favour of it.
>Responding to a Channel 4 News survey of MPs' 
>views on the policy, Mark Field, who represents 
>the Cities of London and Westminster wrote: 
>"Must confess that I have not heard of this new 
>tax and it has not been raised with me by constituents (as yet)."
>The changes are expected to affect around 
>660,000 social housing tenants from April. They 
>face a reduction in their housing benefit, 
>dubbed the "bedroom tax", because they are 
>deemed to be under-occupying their homes.
>Under the reforms, couples and children of the 
>same sex are expected to share a room, as are 
>any two children under 10 regardless of gender.
>But Mr Field voted in favour of the policy in 
>February 2012. The policy has attracted 
>criticism because it will apply to tenants with 
>disabilities, foster carers, and many others who 
>believe they have exceptional circumstances and 
>yet fall short of the new criteria.
>
>Read more: The 'bedroom tax' - the key questions
>http://www.channel4.com/news/the-bedroom-tax-the-key-questions
>
>At Prime Minister's Questions, David Cameron was 
>pressed on the issue by Alison Seabeck, the 
>Labour MP for Plymouth, Moor View. She asked: 
>"Is it right that a mother in my constituency 
>may not, because of his government's bedroom 
>tax
be able to offer her son, serving in Her 
>Majesty's armed forces, a home or a bedroom on his return from duty?"
>The prime minister said he would look at the 
>case, but said the housing benefit reforms have 
>a "very clear principle at their heart."
>"There are many people in private rented 
>accommodation who don't have housing benefit, 
>who cannot afford extra bedrooms, and we have to 
>get control of housing benefit," he said.
>"We are now spending as a country £23bn on 
>housing benefit and we have to get that budget under control."
>Maria Brabiner (pictured at the top of page) has 
>been told to expect an £11 per week reduction in 
>her housing benefit. Since her mother passed 
>away she is the sole occupant of a two-bed house 
>in Salford. Her family have lived in the home since it was built in 1978.
>"I'm scared of what's going to happen to me," 
>she said. "I'm worried about whether my electric 
>will be cut off, whether my gas will be cut off. 
>It's not a case of won't pay, it's can't pay."
>Maria, a former council worker who has been 
>unemployed since 2010, says she is desperately 
>seeking employment in order to make ends meet 
>when her housing benefit is cut. "The sad thing 
>is we're all categorised as shirkers," she said. 
>"I've heard Mr Osborne talk about the 
>unemployed, you know who they are, they've got 
>the bedroom curtains drawn whilst you go out to 
>work. I'm not like that. I'm up every morning at 
>six o'clock. My neighbours will tell you, I go out searching for work."
>The government says the under-occupation penalty 
>will help contain expenditure on housing 
>benefit, make better use of current social 
>housing stock, encourage benefits claimants to 
>find work and free up more social housing properties.
>So far, of the 76 MPs who have responded to the 
>Channel 4 News survey, not one has replied in support of the "tax".
>Liberal Democrat MP John Leech said he had voted 
>against the changes, but accused the Labour 
>party of coining the term bedroom tax in order 
>"to scare people about the consequences of 
>changes to housing benefit entitlements."
>Paul Murphy, the Labour MP for Torfaen, said the 
>new penalty would have "incredibly worrying" 
>consequences for some of his constituents.
>"I really do not think that David Cameron, 
>George Osborne and Nick Clegg understand the impact of these changes," he said.
>"They may seem a small reduction of a few pounds 
>a week, but when someone is already living on 
>the breadline, a sudden reduction in income can have a big impact."
>--
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