Conservative chairman Grant Shapps has called UN official Raquel Rolnik’s recommendation to suspend the ‘bedroom tax’ an "absolute disgrace"
Ms Rolnik is producing a report on adequate housing around the world for the UN human rights council. She was invited, by the Government to come to the UK to gather information for the report. Her visit included trips to London, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Belfast and Manchester.
Ms Rolnik says she has received "hundreds of testimonies" on the bedroom size limit rule, known as the bedroom tax. She said there was a "danger of a retrogression in the right to adequate housing" in the UK.
You can view Ms Rolnik’s statement on her conclusions following her visit to the UK at http://www.theguardian.com/world/interactive/2013/sep/11/full-statement-special-rapporteur-raquel-rolnik?CMP
The statement recommends
- that the so-called bedroom tax be suspended immediately and be fully re-evaluated in light of the evidence of its impacts on the right to adequate housing and general well-being of many vulnerable individuals.
- that the Government puts in place a system of regulation for the private rent sector, including clear criteria about affordability, access to information and security of tenure.
- a renewal of the Government’s commitment to significantly increasing the social housing stock and a more balanced public funding for the stimulation of supply of social and affordable housing which responds to the needs.
Grant Shapps says he will be writing to the UN secretary general to protest.
For more on this story see http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-24046094
For more about the bedroom tax go to http://disabilityrightsuk.org/bedroom-tax