Heartbreaking. Grandmother commits suicide due to bedroom tax.

[Darkesteyes]

This is heart rending. She left a note before heading to the moterway.

www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/bedroom-tax-victim-commits-suicide-1883600#.UY6lhlQGgMY.twitter

[usualsuspect]

Yes I would blame the government for selling off and the decline of affordable housing.

[Wuldric]

I wonder if this thread has run its course?

Mumblechum - the voice of reason - yes that makes perfect sense - and in a country where the population is growing and the number of households is growing even faster than the population - we're all going to have less space to live in.

[flippinada]

Isn't it just usualsuspect. But not, sadly, surprising.

As I said earlier this will happen more and more often. It's horrible; but increasingly we live in a society where people know the cost of everything and the value of nothing (to paraphrase OW).

[Chanatan]

usualsuspect agree with both your points.

[currentbuns]

I am in two minds about the bedroom tax. In principle, it does seem sensible, yet many people are clearly being badly hurt by it.
However, there are echoes here of the suicide note left by the nurse who was pranked by the Australian DJs. She wrote in her note that the DJs were to blame and should therefore pay her mortgage. Yet she had previously attempted suicide and was already depressed. The bedroom tax, the DJ's should both be regarded as a trigger, not a cause.
The Mirror piece was irresponsible, IMO.

[edam]

I wonder how many MPs in the government have spare bedrooms? And how many will offer those spare bedrooms to people on the housing list?

[Darkesteyes]

Why are people saying its the paper politicising it when it CLEARLY STATED IN HER NOTE the reason why she killed herself. Are we really going to choose to disbelieve suicide notes to fit the "bash the poor" agenda now.
If it was a suicide note written by a woman who was suffering domestic abuse would you disbelieve it and blame her or blame the person abusing her. Would you say the paper reporting that was "using it to politicise womens issues" !!!
Believe me with the cuts to womens services i really hope we dont see things like this but unfortunately i think we will. And if "(God forbid) we do i bet people on the thread that may start on here afterwards WONT be gaslighting or trying to rewrite history. Because that only seems to happen on threads like this where benefits are involved!

[Wuldric]

Yes but to reiterate points previously made, she was clearly unwell and this was just a tipping point. She had not been made homeless, she had a home offered to her. I appreciate that it was distressing to have to move and I understand this did not help her mental state. But to attribute her action to the government is not a correct reading of the situation. Tens of thousands of people have been affected by this change. Only one suicide.

[Darkesteyes]

and AGAIN


If it was a suicide note written by a woman who was suffering domestic abuse would you disbelieve it and blame her or blame the person abusing her. Would you say the paper reporting that was "using it to politicise womens issues" !!!

[Wuldric]

I would say that domestic violence is an abomination but that we live in a society where this is not condoned, there are ways out, as many brave Mumsnetters have discovered.

I absolutely do not like the way you are equating this tax with domestic violence. It's a ridiculous and emotional comparison.

I don't particularly enjoy paying tax, but I have do it, and cut my cloth accordingly.

[Darkesteyes]

I AM NOT equating it with DV I am simply saying that if benefits WERNT involved in this case quite a lot of people on this thread would be humming a different tune.

And to call what i wrote emotional? So that poor lady commiting suicide is not an emotional thing then?

And those "ways out" you describe. They are slowly being eroded. Because of cuts. So no i dont think im being emotional at all.

[Wuldric]

You are tired and irrational. Who has said anything about claiming benefits on this thread apart from you? What, you perceive a lack of empathy (not actually true, just a lack of willingness to blame the government) and you leap to the conclusion that this lack of empathy has arisen because the lady in question was on benefits? Nonsense.

Get to bed. It's late. I would myself but I am waiting for a call.

[Darkesteyes]

First the gaslighting.
Then telling me to get to bed (ordering me around)
What you going to do for the hat trick i wonder.

[Wuldric]

Laugh at you, silly :)

Gaslighting? What because I suggested that something other than the government might be to blame?

[Madamecastafiore]

Sorry Edam why in gods name should MPs offer their spare rooms out? That's ridiculous. They bought and paid for their houses (we hope) so what have their spare rooms got to do with the matter?

[GirlOutNumbered]

Would this story have got the same press if she couldn't afford her mortgage payments after kids leave home?
No and people would expect herr to downsize.

[KittensandKids]

So much empathy and compassion

[janey68]

Thousands of people aren't going to be able to afford their monthly mortgage payments when the government raise the base rate ( as they will, probably before the year is out). Those people will face repossession or ( if they are lucky ) selling their home and downsizing, no doubt to somewhere smaller ( despite how many kids they have ) , less desirable and further away from friends, jobs and school.
Thousands of people who haven't managed to get social housing, have to move out of their home with 8 weeks notice if their landlord puts the rent up or simply wants them out - they don't even need a reason for it.

These things happen all the time to thousands of people. They don't all kill themselves.

[flippinada]

A person living in a property which they can sell and then buy another, smaller, property is in a far better position than a woman who has no assets and can't move.

Do people really not understand that folk are genuinely struggling - and I don't just mean not able to afford luxuries. To you or I £20 might sound like a small amount of money but for some people the could be a week's worth of food.

[janey68]

And that's not lacking compassion- of course what happened is bloody awful for the family and for the other people sadly involved such as the driver and their family. I am just pointing out that other people face the same or far worse situations and don't blame the govt or commit suicide

[janey68]

Flippinada- you seriously think everyone in a private rental can afford moving costs, deposit for new rental?
And that everyone with a mortgage can afford estate agents fees, solicitors costs, stamp duty and removal costs? Oh and ever heard of negative equity?
Wow.

[Madamecastafiore]

Seems those on benefits are yet again more entitled than those who aren't.

[FasterStronger]

it says in the article that she had never claimed disability benefits although she was unable to work due to illness so it sounds like her problems go back for many years/decades.

also killing yourself using an innocent lorry driver shows a lack of insight into your own actions.

there have been suicides in my family - but they dont elevate you to some special vantage point where your views are correct.

[flippinada]

No I don't janey.

I've had experience of living in a council property, private rent and am lucky enough to have my own place now. Renting privately was both the most expensive and least secure option for me and I'm very, very glad I don't have to do it any more.

It is very hard and I have the utmost sympathy with anyone in that situation.

[dotnet]

Thinking creatively... biggish thing to set up I suppose, but local authorities could/should encourage people in big L.A. houses to rent out a room, tax free - thus easing pressure on housing and not hitting existing renters in big houses or flats in the pocket.
Send out flyers to people in that situation, explaining the existing tax free rent a room scheme. Work out some way of ensuring fairness (so that the new sharer moving in doesn't end up effectively paying the lion's share of the house rent.)
For more vulnerable people, offer a 'find a sharer' service with support from a council worker to give any 'match' the best chance of working.
And as somebody said on the previous page, - split suitable bigger properties into two, as and when they become vacant.