The bedroom tax

[jonicomelately]

How can anyone support a Government who inflict this on people? There are no words...

www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/brutality-bedroom-tax-exposed-disgraceful-9911421

[jonicomelately]

Saucy


I've never know hard work like being carer. Any person who is a full time carer shouldn't be described as 'not working.'

[BuggerLumpsAnnoyed]

saucyjack the situation with the families living in the B&B is of course tragic . But the bedroom tax on now way does anything to help that.

More housing needs to be available and the government/councils need to work with people to allocate housing fairly and efficiently.

[SaucyJack]

If you'd read my OP Helena (rather than the reply to a reply) you'd see I'd said it was unfair in the one specific case mentioned.

[BuggerLumpsAnnoyed]

*bedroom tax in no way

[Iamnotloobrushphobic]

I'm disgusted that anybody could describe a person who provides full time care to an adult with the mental age of 4 as not working. Carers work a damn sight harder than most other workers and they get paid the pittance of £63 per week for their full time efforts.

[HelenaDove]

It is a choice to have children It is not a choice to be disabled OR to have a disabled child.

However......the housing situation is not the fault of families or disabled people. It is because of the sell off of council housing stock which was never replaced.

[PiperIsTerrysChoclateOrange]

I have always said people who are disabled should be exempt from the bedroom tax.

Ds has asd and I can't even move one of his toys without a complete meltdown and sleepless nights. To move him out of this home would fuck up 9 years of work.

For it be be fair why can't oap face the bedroom tax :- because the Tories don't want to loose the grey vote.

[Birdsgottafly]

"Anyone who thinks we should be paying for up to three empty bedrooms for healthy adults who don't work from one decade to the next needs their head read.""

You should add, "in my area", because in some areas, this can be easyily explained.

Every job advertised on Merseyside gets a minimum of 800 applications, the work isn't there.

We demolished all the blocks of flats, around 10-15 years ago, bungalows were mostly built, for "the ageing population.

We need regional policies.

[HelenaDove]

And i too think its not on that children and young people are being pushed from pillar to post in hostels and B and Bs. It disrupts lives , causes no end of stress and ruins their education.

[BuggerLumpsAnnoyed]

The same government that introduced the bedroom tax and the ones who have suggested bringing back the disastrous right to buy scheme. It's so fucking stupid that my head hurts from banging it against a wall.

[Sirzy]

Asking them to move to somewhere smaller would have been ok if they had been moved to somewhere equally as adapted to meet his needs, to be turfed out and left high and dry for years isn't good enough.

To make matters worse an elderly couple were then put in the house meaning only one of the 4 rooms was being used so what exactly was gained?

[PiperIsTerrysChoclateOrange]

I I had to move every 6 months in a private rental ds would go from a 5a statement to being in a special education school.

I am very lucky in that ds school there are small classrooms at mainstream and with his statement he is scraping part. It and helps that the headteacher niece is asd and fully understand asd.

[SaucyJack]

"We need regional policies."

If it was up to me Birds (which it isn't) I'd link it to the Homeswapper websites, with exemptions made for those who can prove they cannot find a mutual or multiway swap to more appropriately sized accomodation.

[OldBloodCallsToOldBlood]

Birdsgottafly, I can well believe it of that area. Where I am isn't particulary great (Bootle). There are five houses on my street up for rent, all in poor condition. No-one wants to live here and I dread the area going even more downhill than it already has.

[HelenaDove]

That housing associations twitter page is going to be an interesting read tomorrow.

[Birdsgottafly]

""The same government that introduced the bedroom tax and the ones who have suggested bringing back the disastrous right to buy scheme. It's so fucking stupid that my head hurts from banging it against a wall.""

In effect it has been bought back, the empty properties by me have all now gone to the "Own Place" scheme, there already been re-possessions, because the people often eligible for these purchasers don't have savings, are on low wages and are in "jobs", rather than careers, which once lost can't be replaced.

The house posted will sell for around £45k, no deposit etc.

[HelenaDove]

joni thats heartbreaking.


Blimey Birds

[Inertia]

The sheer disregard for the rights of people with disabilities to be treated like human beings is utterly horrifying. Even when you look at the basic economic facts in this case, the implementation of the bedroom tax in this example led to a huge waste of public money, because the house had been specially adapted to meet the needs of this particular gentleman- presumably those adaptations were necessary (though I bet they weren't installed) in every subsequent house he had to move to.

I'd be interested to see how much public money the bedroom tax has actually saved , when you take into consideration the administration costs, costs associated with repeatedly adapting houses when people are forced to move, and so on.

[elementofsurprise]

In my neck of the woods we have two- and three-bedroomed social properties standing empty whilst one-beds are as rare as hens' teeth. Even if willing to pay the bedroom tax, they won't let anyone move in if they will be underoccupying. Even if the bedroom tax is affordable compared to the equivalent shortfall renting privately! Eg. a childless adult under 35 is expected to houseshare (cheapest 30% of rooms to rent) so if they need a self contained property (eg. for mental or physical health reasons) the shortfall is around £40 a week. Whereas bedroom tax on a council/HA two-bed would be around £15 a week.

I dont disagree with the bedroom tax but it should only be applied if a suitable property has been offered and declined - maybe a choice of two or three properties. And the definition of a 'spare' room needs tweaking too - I'm thinking of disabled children who need their own room, rooms used for storing disability related equipment, rooms needed for couple who have to sleep apart for medical reasons and so on.

Also, a lot of the protest around the bedroom tax I encountered seemed very... closed minded. I mean, there seemed to be virtually no acknowledgement of those stuck in private housing on HB paying rent shortfalls due to the equivalent rules in the private sector! No "suitable housing for all" type protest, just "we don't want to pay bedroom tax". Worse, the under-35 changes in HB were happening at the same time and were almost completely ignored.

[RabbitRedux]

I'm disgusted that anybody could describe a person who provides full time care to an adult with the mental age of 4 as not working.

What about this guy's wife? Why doesn't she have a job?

[Birdsgottafly]

Old, I was working for Sefton LA, when we first got a Tory Government, we were told not to plan any of the provisions that we would normally run for Children, under CP/CIN plans, then the schemes were put on hold for Disabled children, it was lies from the start, in regards to what would be cut.

That's why they tried to get Children Centres and the connected Family Support taken away from their SS connection, so they could cut funding.

The attack started from day one, on our most vulnerable, my friends work in Elderly and MH, the changes were despicable.

If it was made public, exactly what the Tories hoped to do, most of their supporters would be horrified.

I had to analyse Universal Credit and it certainly was, Politics 19th Century style.

[Viviennemary]

Because it isn't a tax. It's a reduction in benefits for people who have extra bedrooms. The same as applies to people in private rentals. Nobody is paying income tax on extra bedrooms.

[caroldecker]

Maybe liverpool council should pay its staff less?

[Birdsgottafly]

""I'd be interested to see how much public money the bedroom tax has actually saved ""

Up to now? None, it will show to cost us all, though.

Thatchers policies, cost more in terms of Law Enforcement and MH/Health/Family services, than her harsh policies did, all she did was plunge people into cycles of poverty and deprivation, which is happening again.


""What about this guy's wife? Why doesn't she have a job?"

They are both his full time Carers.

[Birdsgottafly]

""Maybe liverpool council should pay its staff less?""

That wasn't Liverpool, can we stick to facts.