UN housing expert says "bedroom tax" should be axed

[MurderOfGoths]

Link

"Rolnik said she was disturbed by the extent of unhappiness caused by the bedroom tax and struck by how heavily this policy was affecting "the most vulnerable, the most fragile, the people who are on the fringes of coping with everyday life".

During interviews with council officials, she noted that they were struggling to cope with the fallout from the policy's introduction, not least because there was a shortage of single-bedroom properties into which tenants might downsize."It's so clear that the government didn't really assess the impact on lives when it took this decision … The mechanism that they have in place to mitigate it – the discretionary payment that they provide the councils with, it doesn't solve anything, it's for just a couple of months, and the councils cannot count on that on a permanent basis, they don't know if it's going to be available next year, so it's useless," she said.

Historically, "the United Kingdom has much to be proud of in the provision of affordable housing," she said, but its reputation was "being eroded from different sides". The state had an obligation to "put in place safeguards to protect the most vulnerable and what I am seeing here is quite the opposite – the most vulnerable are having to pay for these cuts". The country was "going backwards in the protection and promotion of the human right to housing".^"

And Grant Shapps has responded by throwing a temper tantrum and demanding an apology.

[MurderOfGoths]

As someone stuck in too small accommodation I am utterly in favour of those with more rooms than they need being moved to allow those without space to live somewhere suitable. But this plan is badly thought out and causing more harm than good.

[GobbySadcase]

The thought in my head at the moment is oh do piss off...

[MurderOfGoths]

Here's the full statement.

[BrokenSunglasses]

Perhaps the UN would like to pay people for having spare bedrooms themselves instead of expecting those of us that can't afford our own spare bedroom to pay for other people's?

[MurderOfGoths]

Broken have you read their report, seems they have no problem with the "bedroom tax" in isolation, what they do have issue with is that there is no provision made for people to move elsewhere and so it is creating a lot of problems.