No Bedroom Tax evictions in Nottingham!
Lobby Monday 8th July 1pm Nottingham Council House – organised by Notts Defend Council Tax Benefits Campaign.
Nine UK councils (including Broxtowe Borough) have said they will not evict people who cannot pay their rent because of the Bedroom Tax – We can get Nottingham City Council to do the same.
Under the “Under Occupancy Charge” (Bedroom Tax), the government is taking 14% or 25% off peoples’ Housing Benefit if they live in social housing (council or housing association) and have one or more “spare” bedrooms.
* The Bedroom Tax unfairly hits people with disabilities, carers, parents with part-time custody and young people who are forced to share bedrooms.
* The Bedroom Tax is a cut in Housing Benefit, which is claimed by some of the poorest in the community including part time workers, low waged and people unable to work because of their health or disability.
* It does nothing to help those who claim Housing Benefit because they are out of work, or because they are so poorly paid that they need to claim help with housing costs.
* It will not bring down the Housing Benefit bill which is big because of high rents – mainly in the private sector but now social landlords can charge 80% of the market rate.
* Even if people are able and willing to downsize, according to the Evening Post there are only 35 one bedroom properties available in Nottingham for the 6,000 people affected by the Bedroom Tax to move into. Social housing is in short supply because of a lack of investment by the government over many years.
Whilst the Bedroom Tax is a national scheme, local councils have to implement it. Nottingham City Council say they are not in favour of the scheme. We believe the only way to stop the scheme is to fight it. If all Councils against the scheme take the following action, it will force the government to re-think the Bedroom Tax:
· Refuse to evict people who can’t pay their rent because of the Bedroom Tax. The process of evicting someone from their home is long, complex, expensive (it costs £6,000 per household) and extremely stressful.
· Rather than using resources in this way, we say Nottingham City Council should use its reserves to build a campaign in Nottingham to pressurise the government to scrap the Bedroom Tax. We believe this campaign would be supported by the majority of people in Nottingham – many of whom are unaware of the changes.
· Nottingham City Council should also redesignate properties as having fewer bedrooms to limit the effects of the Bedroom Tax
· Use its influence on the boards of many housing associations to prevent them from evicting people because of the Bedroom Tax
At the Council meeting on Monday July 8, the council will be discussing how they will be implementing the Bedroom Tax.
Lobby Nottingham City Council on July 8!
For more information please contact Notts Defend Council Tax Benefits Campaign: Defendcounciltaxbenefits [at] yahoo.co.uk
Telephone 07505 135 807 / 0791 347 6905
The Bedroom Tax unfairly hits people with disabilities, carers, parents with part-time custody and young people who are forced to share bedrooms.