ONLY five per cent of people affected by the bedroom tax in Brent have been able to down size.
On the one year anniversary of the controversial policy Brent Council has released figures about the number of people who have been able to move in the borough, which is the most affected local authority in the UK.
In Brent 518 tenants have been forced to pay the bedroom tax and only 27, which works out as five per cent, have been able to move into a smaller property.
A BBC investigation showed that 30,000 people, or six per cent of those affected by the policy nationally, have been able to down size.
If a family or individual on housing benefit has a spare or extra bedroom in their home they are required to pay more and many people have requested to move to smaller properties.
However, a short supply of such homes has made this difficult in practice.
Residents affected by Bedroom Tax with one spare room have seen their housing benefit reduced by 14 per cent, whilst those with two or more have had their payment cut by 25 per cent.
For Brent residents this is an annual increase in rent of £811 and £1,449, respectively.
Councillor Muhammed Butt, Labour leader of Brent Council, said: “The Tories have tried to claim they introduced the bedroom tax to help reduce overcrowding, but one year on it’s plain to see this cruel, unfair and appallingly administered policy was always designed to be a tax on the poorest and most vulnerable. Trapped with nowhere else to go, hundreds of Brent have had no choice but to fork over more than £800 extra in rent even as this Government’s cost of living crisis has meant they’ve struggled to heat their homes and to put food on the table. Even on Ministers’ own terms, the Bedroom Tax has been an abject failure. The coalition should scrap this disastrous and hated tax immediately. But if they won’t, a Labour Government will.”
