The leadership’s positioning over secret courts has angered many of the party faithful over the past week, but for me the major disappointment has been our uncritical support of the Tory inspired ‘spare bedroom subsidy’ policy or how I think more accurately describes it – the ‘bedroom tax’. Our leader Nick Clegg used the provocative ‘spare bedroom subsidy’ term in a Q&A session at last week’s Spring Conference, and it has been repeated by senior Lib Dems including Mike German on Newsnight in the days following.
The policy, which is part of the government’s welfare reform package, will cut the amount of housing benefit that social housing tenants receive if they are considered to have a spare bedroom. Proponents of this policy argue that it will incentivise people to downsize and free up much needed housing for those on the waiting list.
However even the government acknowledges that there are not enough one and two bedroom properties for those with currently larger houses to move into. Despite this, from April the cut in housing benefit will amount to 14% for those deemed to be over-occupying by one extra bedroom, and a 25% reduction for those with two or more extra bedrooms. The government’s own impact assessment shows that those affected will be on average £14 per week worse off.
The policy will reportedly save government £500 million per year; not a large amount given the likely cost of administering and enforcing this change. And there is also likely to be a significant cost to the taxpayer due to the increase in homelessness this policy will inevitably cause. The Tories, and disappointingly our party, are justifying this policy by arguing that social housing tenants will now be treated the same as tenants receiving housing benefit in the private rented sector.
I accept the social security budget has to be reduced as we look to bring down the deficit and stimulate growth. We must incentivise work and on that basis I welcome the principles underpinning the Universal Credit. But as Lib Dems we should not look to support policies that will penalise the poorest in our society when they have no available properties to move into, and which look to pitch different groups against each other – in this case social housing tenants from private sector tenants.
I welcomed the radical new housing policy that the party backed at last year’s conference, recognising how many new affordable homes need to be built. As such it is important that in government we must look to support those in real housing need and not disingenuously pretend that the ‘bedroom tax’ will help significantly increase housing supply. If we are about building a fairer society, we must challenge policies that fail that test.
* John Coburn is an activist in Westminster borough and Network Manager for HACT