Bedroom Tax in Hounslow

Last night's Council meeting again debated the Bedroom Tax, now impacting on 2000 working-age households in Hounslow who are losing anything from £13 to over £30 per week.  This policy was dreamed up by a party without thought as to the financial or social consequences, as families struggle to make ends meet, or are forced to give up their tenancies and move into far more expensive private-sector housing (at greater cost to the tax-payer). 

Hounslow's Tories suggested this tax is the way to encourage people to down-size - whilst forgetting that our Council, with the support of a Labour Government, provided one-off support costs to "over-occupiers", and enough funding to build new housing, so people had a choice of new homes.  They also conveniently forget that most "over-occupiers" are pensioners, but at least their Government had the sense to ensure pensioners are not affected by the bedroom tax.

Many of those affected are the working poor, or those whose situation mean they cannot work.  My colleague Elizabeth Hughes described how a disabled constituent needs a second bedroom for a carer to stay in and also to store various pieces of bulky equipment when not in use. She is having to find an additional £14 per week, which will be a massive struggle to find and will impair her ability to live any kind of normal life.  If the bedroom tax is designed to get people to downsize, it is an incredibly blunt instrument.  This woman's flat has had over £10,000 spent to adapt it for her physical needs, which would have to be spent again were she to move - that is if she could find an accessible one sufficiently near her care support and there are too few suitable places.

Right wing Tory Robert Oulds kept going on about the discretionary hardship fund being offered to the Council, whilst ignoring that this will cover a fraction of the losses to residents on low incomes, and is only available for a year.  Labour's Ajmer Grewal pointed out that people who might have to apply to this fund cannot live with the worry of not knowing from one year to the next whether they are going to get support.

The Tories' body language suggested they are clearly split on the issue of the bedroom tax, even though they all voted against the Labour motion condemning it. 

At the same meeting Steve Curran announced the launch of the Food Box scheme, which provides food for people in crisis. A great initiative between the Council, the Tenants & Residents Federation and Asda, but it shouldn't be needed.  It's yet further proof that those who didn't cause the recession are being made to pay by a Government that is actively working to make the poor poorer.