Ghettoise people and they will break out

The bedroom tax – or the ‘spare bedroom subsidy’ – came into force on April 1, and is a reduction in housing benefits for working-age claimants who have at least one spare bedroom in their accommodation.

On paper, this sounds sensible. Economically, the UK is in tight times. The national budget deficit is at £1.1bn. By 2012, spend on benefits had increased by 1.1% since 2010, and expenditure on housing benefit went up by 5.1% in the same period.

Yet, in Gloucestershire, more than 3,000 families will be directly affected by the bedroom tax, people in our communities – Wotton, Yate, Dursley.

The Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit Circular states that, entitled to one bedroom each, will be: a couple, an adult aged 16 or over, two children of the same sex (aged under 16), two children aged under 10 regardless of sex, any other child under 16, and a non-resident carer providing overnight care. So why do people need an extra bedroom?

And that question is the problem. See, as soon as you begin to pick in the finest detail what people have, you begin to isolate them. The bedroom tax is dividing and devastating.

By saying that people on benefits will be charged for a spare room, the government is creating ghettos, herding people into areas they don’t want to live, all because they have an extra bedroom.

Never mind if that room is needed by the mother whose son’s condition means he cannot share, or the two-thirds of disabled people who will be directly affected by the measure. And if you think it’s okay, then imagine this: you are told to up sticks and leave your home because you have an extra room.

The bedroom tax will make the divide between rich and poor even wider. And what would be next? Telling all housing benefit claimants to live in high-rises? Sounds daft, but really, where is the line drawn? That’s why the bedroom tax – ghettoisation - is not the answer.

Instead, let social housing providers rent their properties on the same day, and therefore minimise arrears. Streamline paperwork. Eliminate hypocrisy.

Because, if we ghettoise people, they will, one day, break out.

Readers who submit articles must agree to our terms of use. The content is the sole responsibility of the contributor and is unmoderated. But we will react if anything that breaks the rules comes to our attention. If you wish to complain about this article, contact us here