In amidst the excitement of the Cabinet reshuffle, the Government slipped out its first interim review of what is technically called the “Removal of the Spare Room Subsidy”. That’s the “Bedroom Tax” to you and me. The conclusions are pretty damning:
At the time of the research, four out of five claimants affected by the RSRS were reported by landlords to be paying some or all of their shortfall, although half of these had failed to pay in full. There was widespread concern about the impact of potential future evictions on local services, and on landlord finances as well as on the lives of vulnerable people.
At the time of writing, few tenants have found work or taken in lodgers. However, demand for downsizing has been greater than anticipated, although, in many areas, this demand has thus far been difficult to meet. At the time of this research, there had been very few evictions solely due to the RSRS.
The evaluation will continue to monitor this situation and any resultant impact on landlords, local authority services or on the lives of claimants themselves, in its next round of fieldwork later in 2014.
59% of people have accumulated arrears as a result of the increase in their weekly rent payments. Even if their social landlord has a non-eviction policy for arrears due solely to the Bedroom Tax, these people are still in increased debt for which they will be pursued. 57% of people said that they had to cut back on household essentials to make up the shortfall.
Only 5% of people had been able to downsize. Others who wanted to simply couldn’t because there were no suitable properties.
It’s become much more difficult if you’re single and homeless to get a property:
Voluntary sector agencies working with the single homeless reported difficulties in hostel move-on to social housing because of the shortage of one bedroom homes and reluctance of landlords to allocate single people to two bedroom homes where they would be affected by the RSRS. Moving single people to private rented housing had also become more difficult lately because those aged under 35 were now limited to LHA to cover only a single room, rather than a one bedroom flat
The report does say that local authorities are now building more smaller homes, but we know that we need many more homes than are actually being built so that will be little more than a drop in the ocean.
So, the stated aim of the policy was to free up larger houses for families in overcrowded accommodation. It isn’t working. It’s also causing hardship on the way. There haven’t been very many evictions, 45 in total, but that’s because that process takes several months.
The main contribution of the Liberal Democrats was to massively increase the amount of Discretionary Housing Payments available to help the most vulnerable people. However, that hasn’t been particularly effective:
Discretionary housing payments have undoubtedly helped to alleviate the difficulties of some of the most vulnerable tenants, though this funding is by its nature short term and offers tenants little certainty over their future. Local authorities have found it hard to predict the demands on this fund, and most have therefore been cautious in allocating it thus far. There remain concerns that many tenants are not aware of DHPs, or do not manage to supply the correct evidence to support their application. There is wide variation in practice between areas, as might be expected from the discretionary nature of the funding.
All of this was predictable. What should happen now, though, in the face of such a damning report. Should the Government:
a) Wait for a second report next year, racking up more misery and hardship in the process
b) Reform the policy to ensure that only those who refuse reasonable offers of downsizing are affected
c) Just recognise it’s not the right way to deal with the problem of overcrowding and get rid.
You would think, given such a damning report, that b) or c) would be the appropriate response. Sadly, this is not the case. We’re going with a). Another report will be published after the General Election. I don’t think that is a sufficient response and I hope that Liberal Democrats within Government will be pushing much more meaningful reform.
The motion passed unanimously at Autumn Conference last year is copied below. It already seems outdated and a little cautious. In Scotland, with the support of Liberal Democrats in the Scottish Parliament, the effects of the Bedroom Tax are being fully mitigated by the Scottish Government at some cost. We need to show our value in Government by tackling the suffering this measure causes in the rest of the country. If we don’t, the only thing we’ll see different in the next report is an increase in the number of people made homeless – and we’ve already seen that single homeless people are being stuck in hostels for extended periods because of a lack of suitable temporary accommodation. Someone has to call time on this spiral of misery.
Conference calls for further action by Government, including:
1. An immediate evaluation of the impact of the policy, establishing the extent to which larger homes are freed up, money saved, costs of implementation, the impact on vulnerable tenants, and the impact on the private rented sector.
2. A redrafting of clear housing needs guidelines in association with those representing vulnerable groups including the disabled, elderly and children that are responsive to local circumstances.
3. Acceptance that some Councils and Housing Associations have calculated rent by reference to bed spaces (not bedrooms) as some rooms can and should only house one person: this should be reflected in the DWP calculation of housing benefit.
4. A review of the amount allocated to Local Authorities for the Discretionary Housing Payment Fund and guidelines on the use of these funds and appeal processes.
5. The development of practical strategies to encourage pensioners to downsize where a single person or couple lives in a three or more bedroom home.
6. In the context of new guidelines an assessment of the current and future demand for social housing and the use of this at local level to facilitate planning to get the right homes in the right place.
7. Until any new guidelines are in place:
a) No withdrawal of housing benefit to those who are on the waiting list for social housing which fits the current guidelines within their local area.
b) No reduction in housing benefit from their projected housing need for those who, for a period of less than six months, temporarily have a smaller housing need due to a change in their circumstances, but whose need will predictably return to a higher level (e.g. whose children will pass the age limits for separate rooms within that period).
* Caron Lindsay is Co-Editor of Liberal Democrat Voice and blogs at Caron's Musings