Ken Butler, welfare rights officer for Disability Rights UK, said ministers had claimed there would be no evictions as a result of the change in the law
“The amount of money that the Government has made available to fund discretionary housing payments is not sufficient to reach the shortfall,” he said.
The effects of the bedroom tax are already being felt. Already nearly a thousand people have received notice of arrears letters in Bradford whilst tenants in Barnsley and Leeds have been told that their homes are at risk.
Some councils have already started issuing eviction notices. South Lanarkshire had to apologise to tenants earlier this month after letters were sent to residents threatening eviction. In Brighton, an anti-bedroom tax campaigner was among the first to receive a letter threatening eviction even though council has a “no eviction policy”.
The bedroom tax has affected around 600,000 people nationwide, who have seen an average of £14 a week cut from their housing benefit.
Pensions Minister Steve Webb recently stated that there were no indications that evictions would result from the removal of the spare room subsidy (the bedroom tax).
For more information see the Independent article Tenants face eviction over controversial ‘bedroom tax’.
For more information about the bedroom tax see our Factsheet F57 - the bedroom tax