Perth housing chief says ‘bedroom tax’ has caused ‘extreme stress’

A Perth housing chief has claimed the so-called bedroom tax has caused “extreme stress” to some Perth tenants.

Grant Ager, the chief executive of Fairfield Housing Co-operative Ltd, is an outspoken critic of legislation and yesterday said the “policy isn’t working” and highlighted the personal cost of the bedroom tax.

Since April, the new housing benefit rules meant tenants would not be able to get housing benefit to pay for their rent if their home has “spare bedrooms.”

Mr Ager said some of his tenants have been in tears as a result of the bedroom tax.

“We’ve had people really upset,” he told The Courier.

“The bedroom tax should have applied to all new tenancies. Four years ago, we looked at how we could use incentives for people to move to smaller houses, including speaking to people, talking to Perth and Kinross Council, but there was no value in doing it as people wouldn’t go along with it.”

A spokesperson for the Department for Works and Pension said councils may choose to “redefine” some properties but it does not expect this to be widespread.