The Government’s “bedroom tax” is likely to lead to riots and social unrest in Hackney, a Labour councillor has warned.
Over 4,500 people in Hackney will be affected by the bedroom tax, which penalises social housing and council tenants on benefits who have a spare bedroom.
The move, which will hit up to 80,000 low income families across London, will see those with one spare room lose 14 per cent of their housing benefits, and 25 per cent for those with two.
Labour councillor Michael Desmond said the tax will have catastrophic implications and will affect the cohesion of society in Hackney.
He said: “People are going to feel bitterness and venom and there will be implications. Whether that will be riots or social unrest I don’t know but I do think there will be implications because people will feel they have nothing to lose.”
The Hackney Downs councillor added that this tax will affect families with carers especially hard.
“There are some tenants who are disabled or have sick children and they need that room when they have a carer there.
“The Government is using a sledgehammer to crack a nut and they’re not showing an understanding of people who are in this predicament,” he said.
Hundreds of Hackney residents are likely to face eviction if they fail to pay their rent on time according to experts at Hackney Law Centre.
Nathaniel Mathews, senior solicitor for housing at Hackney Law Centre, said the policy is the worst thing he has seen in his 20-year career of working in the borough.
“This is so badly thought out, unless one takes a cynical view that the government is trying to engineer an exodus. I predict we are going to have even more repossession claims. We’re currently getting about 10 to 15 a day.
“It’s going to be a complete disaster. They’re turning them [council tenants] into guinea pigs for their policy experiment.”
Councillors have warned that there are not enough one-bedroom flats in Hackney to accommodate those unable to afford the spare bedroom tax. Many council tenants may be forced to find homes in the private sector or move out of London.
The National Housing Federation estimates that 4,579 people in Hackney are likely to be affected by the tax which is due to come into place on April 1.
Kevin Williamson, Assistant Director of London at the National Housing Federation, said:
“The Government’s bedroom tax is flawed and will unfairly penalise thousands of people in Hackney and across London who have lived in their homes for years, raising families and contributing to their communities.
“The bedroom tax’s ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach takes no account of disabled people’s adapted homes, of foster parents who need rooms to take children in or of parents sharing custody who will lose the room for their child at weekends.”
But Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith said that the tax policy was about ensuring that social housing is allocated properly.
Speaking on the Andrew Marr Show, Mr Duncan Smith said: “This is not about punishing people. This is about trying to reallocate the housing. It is about getting the balance right.”
i hope there are riots. maybe then we the people would be heard
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