Housing Benefit
Debate between Baroness Keeley and George Howarth(11 years, 7 months ago)
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Mr Howarth
Absolutely, I applaud what is happening in Northern Ireland.
Since the introduction of the bedroom tax, rent arrears in Merseyside have increased by £2.2 million—not to £2.2 million, but by £2.2 million—representing a loss of income that could have built 125 houses in the region, creating jobs and bringing all the other consequences. Some 60% of those in the Liverpool city region in arrears because of the bedroom tax are in arrears for the first time. It is not a habit of theirs, but a direct consequence of the bedroom tax.
Barbara Keeley
We have some frightening statistics in Salford, too, but those are very large numbers, particularly the loss of spending power. Do those figures cover the Minister’s constituency and will she be explaining to people in the region how these things came about?
Mr Howarth
They do indeed. I hope the Minister will respond to these statistics, because her own constituents will be interested to hear.
We have experienced a 30% increase in void—empty—properties, including a 130% increase in three-bedroom houses. This is not, therefore, just a matter of releasing unused bedroom space for those on the waiting list; there is no demand for three-bedroom properties, which is why they become void properties. Staggeringly, the result has been a loss of rent to local landlords of £616,622 per month, compared with £397,000 in the same period last year. Those are the direct consequences, in one city region, of the bedroom tax.
Where are our people supposed to go? In my city region, we have an excess of three-bedroom properties and a shortage of two and one-bedroom properties. We can debate all day who is responsible for that, but it is a fact, so where are people to go? There is a shortage of social housing for them to scale down to. Interestingly, York university’s centre for housing policy report, which has been referred to frequently in this debate, concludes that 41.5% of people losing money because of the bedroom tax and having to move will enter the private rented sector. That is the conclusion of an unbiased, peer-reviewed report.
Now, here is the rub. This measure is supposed to be saving some money. The average rent for a three-bedroom housing association property in Knowsley is £74 a week, compared with £132 for a three-bedroom house in the private rented sector. If someone were to scale down from the three-bedroom housing association property to a two-bedroom house in the private sector, they would be paying £115 a week, compared with the £74 they were paying before.
As my right hon. Friend the Member for Greenwich and Woolwich (Mr Raynsford) said earlier, this policy is morally bankrupt. It is also incompetent. It presumes that people can just move around at will, and that a property that is right for their circumstances exists somewhere in their area. That is not the case. There is growing evidence that, rather than saving money, this policy is costing more.
High Cost Credit Bill
Debate between Baroness Keeley and George Howarth
Barbara Keeley
I went on a 10 km run to help my CAB; it was under threat, but we managed to preserve this essential service in my locality. Salford city council offered it accommodation, and it now runs an excellent service from a local council building. That has really helped.
Mr George Howarth (Knowsley) (Lab)
I would like to pay tribute to the CABs and other advice bureaux in Knowsley, which are the last defence for many people seeking advice on what to do when they get into debt as a result of payday loans. It is also important to highlight the significant contribution of credit unions. In Knowsley, they provide not only a lending and deposit service, but a link to banks and credit from the Co-op so that people can buy white goods, for example.
Barbara Keeley
That is an excellent example. We heard earlier about a project run with the backing of Unite—that seemed to cause some amusement among Government Members—in Salford to get a credit union off the ground. We have credit unions serving parts, but not the whole of Salford, which has some very deprived wards, where the whole gamut of loan sharks have been plying their trade. I am concerned that we protect people from the bailiffs and the financial truncheons—I think that is what someone called them earlier—and help them join together in co-operatives.
Mr Howarth
This point has been made repeatedly, but it bears repeating: with multiple loans, roll-overs and all of that, people are eventually driven into the hands of loan sharks, with all the woeful consequences that can have.