Under-Occupancy Penalty
Debate between Emma Lewell-Buck and Lilian GreenwoodWestminster Hall is an alternative Chamber for MPs to hold debates, named after the adjoining Westminster Hall.
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Mrs Lewell-Buck
My hon. Friend makes a valid point. It is decent, law-abiding people who have always paid their rent who are being targeted by the tax.
Lilian Greenwood (Nottingham South) (Lab)
I want to add to the point made by my hon. Friend the Member for Cardiff South and Penarth (Stephen Doughty). Nottingham City Homes, our arm’s-length management organisation, has seen an increase in arrears directly as a result of the bedroom tax of £260,000 since April. We expect the amount to be about £500,000 this year—money that could and should have been spent on refurbishing homes or building new homes.
Mrs Lewell-Buck
I will address that issue in my next point. My local citizens advice bureau is receiving more than 33 inquiries every week related to the bedroom tax.
One case study identified a young lady who had never been in rent arrears. As a result of the bedroom tax, she has only 84p per day to live on—to buy food, clothes and toiletries. That is an absolute scandal. Her story resonates with what food banks and homelessness charities in my constituency have told me. They feel that the increase in demand for their services is directly linked to the bedroom tax.
At the same time as the crisis was looming, the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions was quoted in our local newspaper, the Shields Gazette, saying:
“When 13,101 households are stuck on a waiting list for social housing in south Tyneside, there’s a big problem that needs addressing… it can’t be right that many households across the north-east are living in an overcrowded home. There’s nothing fair about making families wait and wait for a house that is big enough, while other households on benefits are allowed to live in homes that are too big for their needs, at no extra cost.”
The Secretary of State helpfully advised that my constituents may
“decide to take up work, or work a few more hours to cover the difference”
or
“move to more appropriately-sized accommodation or take in a lodger.”
I would like to take this opportunity to invite him to South Shields to deliver that advice personally to my constituents.