THE Government's cruel bedroom tax will hit Liverpool harder than any other town or city in the country, housing experts have warned.
And rather than reduce the Government's Welfare bill, it could increase it if tenants are forced out of their homes and into private accommodation.
The shortage of one and two-bed social housing properties in Liverpool has prompted Angela Forshaw from Liverpool Mutual Homes to warn: “The bedroom tax won't work in Liverpool.”
It is nothing to do with local resistance to a scheme that could eventually be viewed as David Cameron's Poll Tax moment. It is the logistical fact that there are not enough alternative properties for people doomed to be penalised by the new rule coming in from this April.
Data from Liverpool Mutual Homes (LMH) shows almost a quarter of the city’s social housing stock is made up of one-bed properties with two-beds accounting for 28pc. Three-bed properties make up the overwhelming majority with 42.3pc.
Visits
From April, around 11,000 social housing tenants in the city will be classed by the Government as under-occupying their homes and will have their Housing Benefit cut.
Tenants claiming Housing Benefit with one “spare” bedroom will lose 14pc, while those with two or more will see a 25pc reduction in their benefit cheques.
LMH has visited its 3,000 working age tenants who will be affected by the tax.
Angela Forshaw: 'The overwhelming reaction from the 3,000 tenants we visited is one of shock and also one of terrible anxiety'
About 1,000 are deemed to be under-occupying in accordance with the Government’s criteria by two or more bedrooms and will lose 25pc of their Housing Benefit - as much as £20 a week in some cases. Another 2,000 who have one ‘spare’ bedroom and will lose approximately £12 per week.
It means some households will have to find an extra £624 per year or, if they have two or more spare rooms, over £1,000 to plug the benefit gap.
Angela Forshaw, director of Housing at Liverpool Mutual Homes and Chair of the Liverpool Housing Association’s Welfare Reform Group, said: “The housing stock data underlines what we have been saying since the Government first introduced the policy: the Bedroom Tax won’t work in Liverpool.
'Impossible'
“The make-up of the city’s social housing predominantly comprises of three-bed properties, many built in garden suburbs in the interwar years to allow residents to make their homes and have families.
“At LMH, half of our inherited 15,000 properties are made up of three-bedroom properties but we have just 2,800 with two bedrooms, so downsizing everyone affected - and most don’t want to move - is impossible.”
A prime example is in the Clubmoor area where there are 750 working age families in receipt of Housing Benefit who the Government says are under-occupying.
LMH's under-occupation
map. Click to enlargeLMH have 2,400 properties in and around the Larkhill estate - 1,931 with three-bedrooms but only 41 with two-bedroom. Assuming most would need to stay in the area for schools, work, family and friend connections and caring commitments, there is literally nowhere for them to go.
“Even if every LMH tenant agreed to downsize it would take us up to seven years to be able to offer them suitable alternative housing and this doesn’t take into account the current waiting list or a requirement for us to accommodate urgent cases such as statutory homeless people,” added Ms Forshaw.
“The overwhelming reaction from the 3,000 tenants we visited is one of shock and also one of terrible anxiety. Most people want to pay their rent and pay their way in life but they simple don’t have the financial capacity to be able to shrink their other financial commitments or debts to be able to meet the Government’s Bedroom Tax shortfall.
“The majority of people who will be affected are already struggling to make ends meet and ultimately it will drive people deeper into poverty resulting in more pressure on social support service budgets. Many families may not realise they will be impacted by the Bedroom Tax.
“Our job has been not only to campaign against the policy but to campaign to make our tenants aware of what is happening. We have done our best to inform them so they can be prepared.”
'It makes no sense whatsoever'
DEPUTY Prime Minister Nick Clegg defended the bedroom Tax today, telling the House of Commons the reduction in benefit would mean more people could successfully apply for social housing as more bedrooms would be available.
But Angela Forshaw, at Liverpool Mutual Homes, says the scheme just doesn't stack up.
A fear at LMH is that the Bedroom Tax will result in tenants moving into the private rented sector, plunging many into deeper financial hardship.
Ironically, tenants switching from social housing organisations to private accommodation could even increase the Government’s Welfare Bill - while swelling the coffers of landlords in the lucrative private sector.
The average LMH rent for a two-bedroom house is £74.74 per week and £80.15 for a three-bed property.
If a tenant downsizes from an LMH-owned three-bed home to a two-bed private rented house they would receive a Local Housing Allowance payment of £109, nearly £30 more.
Nick Clegg“It makes no sense whatsoever and has clearly not been thought through in any detail for Liverpool’s population or housing stock,” adds Angela Forshaw.
“Perversely, some tenants living in our homes - all of which are regulated, above the Decent Homes standard and feature modern, energy efficient products - will move into smaller, lower quality private properties and have to pay more rent meaning the Government’s Welfare Bill will actually increase.
“The Local Housing Allowance for a three-bed private sector property is £121 which is £41 more than the average rent we charge."
