On Tuesday South Shields MP Emma Lewell-Buck led a debate in Parliament on the bedroom tax, and together with other Labour MPs highlighted the appalling impact the policy was having on households around the country, and on local authorities’ ability to tackle the housing crisis by building new homes.
Emma was successful in securing a debate in Westminster Hall to discuss the effects of the bedroom tax on housing supply. She called on the Government to explain how it justified the policy, which has seen a huge increase in the number of people falling into arrears, homelessness rise by over a third and larger homes lying empty because nobody can afford to live in them.
Emma said:
“The bedroom tax has not encouraged efficient use of social housing. It has certainly not saved the taxpayer the projected £470 million this year. It has increased homelessness and poverty, led to streets being filled with vacant social housing and cost more than it saved. Taking that and the human cost of the policy into account, the tax is one of the cruellest and most ineffective policies ever to come from any Government.”
She also asked the Government Minister attending the debate, Kris Hopkins MP, whether the Government had considered the impact of the policy on housing supply when it was being drawn up.
South Shields alone has seen £600,000 lost in funding for house building, through a combination of rent arrears, maintenance costs on vacant properties, and higher staff costs.
Mr Hopkins did not address these questions, and said that the tax was “about reducing the burden on the Government and the amount of debt that we have in place. It is important that we do that. We cannot continue to subsidise a million spare rooms.”
However, as Emma noted in the debate, the problem is not that people are holding on to spare rooms, but that there are no smaller homes for them to move to. For eight households hit by the bedroom tax in South Shields, there is only one single bedroom property available.
To read the full debate, click here.
During her by-election campaign Emma asked residents in South Shields to choose one of her campaign pledges – local people overwhelmingly agreed that they wanted Emma to fight the bedroom tax.
In South Shields 1,440 households are affected by the tax, with those under-occupying by one room losing an average of £8.83 per week. Those who under-occupy by two bedrooms lose £14.57 per week.
Ed Miliband has pledged that the next Labour government will repeal that bedroom tax, as well as promising to build a million new homes over a five year term.
Commenting after the debate, Emma said:
“I was pleased to be able to secure this debate, which I know is one of the most pressing issues facing people in South Shields.
“It is clear from the debate that the Government knows just what a disaster this policy has been. Not a single member of the Coalition parties apart from the Minister came forward to defend the bedroom tax, because they know that it is a cruel measure that hits the most vulnerable groups in our community, stops local authorities from addressing the issue of housing supply and costs the taxpayer more than it saves by driving up the housing benefit bill.
“The Minister all but admitted that the Government did not stop to think about how the bedroom tax would affect housing supply, and this proves yet again how removed the Tories are from what is actually happening on the ground.
“Britain needs a Labour government that will repeal this hated tax, and build a million new homes to help alleviate Britain’s housing crisis.”