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Tory’s War on Lower Class: Bedroom Tax is Leaving Homes Empty, Councils with £20 Million Rent Deficit

21st Century Wire says…

The British government has sold this disastrous policy as a way to reduce “under-occupation”.

The ‘bedroom tax’ has affected at least 500,000 UK households. Non-compliance could mean that occupants are forcibly evicted from their homes.

What is it really though? It’s a way to take back property from many of the lower-middle class and working class who got on to the property ladder two decades ago. It’s also part of David Cameron’s Tory Party and war on struggling British families – as this collectivist, punitive feudal tax regime forces families to kick-out family and dependents – and replace then with strangers who are tenants.

The policy has also hit divorced parents who share custody of their children. Weekend fathers, for instance, are given no special dispensation – with the government forcing them to choose between renting out their room, or paying “the bedroom tax” for allowing their children to stay with them on the weekends.

Coercive, repressive and manipulating, and it’s truly incredible how the government has been allowed to pass such a measure. On top of this, it makes ZERO economic sense…

The Government’s own figures reveal the multiple-bedroom properties are vacant because tenants cannot afford to move into them


Nigel Nelson

Mirror

Councils are losing £20million in rent a year as the disastrous Bedroom Tax leaves homes empty.

Nearly 1,500 multiple-bedroom properties are vacant because tenants cannot afford to move into them.

Under the Bedroom Tax their housing benefit has been slashed. The levy puts an average £14 a week on rent for one extra unused bedroom and £25 for two or more. The punitive tax has also pushed up rent arrears by £24million because tenants cannot afford the levy.

Many are unable to downsize because there is a shortage of one-bedroom homes . Shadow Housing minister Emma Reynolds told the Sunday People : “Since the Bedroom Tax was introduced, rent arrears have soared.

“But it’s also increasing the number of homes left empty because tenants can’t afford this unfair charge.”

The waste of good homes comes despite 1.7 million people being stuck on council house waiting lists in England.

New Government figures show the number of empty properties increased from 25,462 in 2012-13 to 26,958 in 2013-14 when the tax was introduced. As a result lost rental income went up from £107million to £127million. The 14,000-home Wythenshawe Community Housing Group in Manchester has lost £1million because of vacant properties.

WCHG chief executive Nigel Wilson said: “The awful consequences of the Bedroom Tax are hurting our tenants on a daily basis.”…

Continue this story at the Mirror

READ MORE AUSTERITY NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire Austerity Files

 

 

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