Bedroom tax reflection

So here we are, one year on from the launch of the bedroom tax.

As we report this week, politicians have been gearing up for the anniversary by talking about how they would change, tweak or scrap the policy, depending on the colour of their rosettes. Like an acquaintance with halitosis, in its current form it’s the policy that no one wants to stand too close to.

However, this week should chiefly be used to reflect on the bedroom tax’s impact on communities across the UK. While it might not have destroyed landlords’ balance sheets, most housing professionals will be aware of the cost paid by vulnerable tenants.

Everyone will have their own individual stories. Personally, the conversation that struck me most was speaking to a father who had broken down and wept in front of his children due to the financial strain the bedroom tax had placed him under.

Most housing professionals you speak to can tell similar tales (and much worse) - a survey of 700 housing employees in December revealed that 58 per cent had found increased mental health issues among their customers compared to six months previously.

Bearing all this in mind, the week’s must-read report comes from the Northern Housing Consortium. Its Real Life Reform research - it’s a ‘does what it says on the tin’ kind of thing - details how people affected by welfare reform have been coping. Be warned: it doesn’t make happy reading.
It mixes overarching statistics, such as a big jump in debt among the households it surveyed in just a few months to stories such as the individual who had borrowed from a loan shark because it ‘just about keeps my head above water’.

It’s an important reminder of the combined impact of fuel poverty, welfare reform and the rising cost of living. As one chief executive told me the stories it details are also ‘heart-wrenching’.

Politicians are, of course, fonder of talking about taking tough choices than their ‘heart-wrenching’ impacts. The bedroom tax might have been a tough choice, but it was also the wrong one. Moves to reform it or, better, scrap it entirely can’t come soon enough.