A PERTH housing chief has claimed a section of the UK Government’s welfare cuts is a “timebomb”.
Grant Ager, chief executive of Fairfield Housing Co-operative, last night told The Courier that he feels the “bedroom tax”, which will come into force on April 1, is going to affect around 2,000 tenants in Perth and Kinross who are on housing benefit.
The changes will mean that housing benefit will be cut by 14% if a tenant has one spare bedroom, and it will be slashed by 25% if tenants have two or more spare bedrooms.
Last night, Mr Ager said it was “amazing” how welfare reform is sneaking up on Perthshire housing tenants.
“We’re three months from the introduction of the bedroom tax, which is basically where people who under-occupy a home in certain categories will be charged or have their housing benefit reduced by 14% for one bedroom, or 25% for two bedrooms,” he said.
“We have about 10% of our tenants that will affect, so we are looking at options.”
He continued: “Our average monthly rent is about £45 per month (more) and they will have to find that from benefits.
“The only other option is that we take action, so it is very, very penal as nobody has the stock of housing in Perth and Kinross to move tenants.
“One or two-bedroom homes are rare, so people are trapped.
“Another option is for people to take in lodgers.
“One of the more brutal things is that if you are a single parent with children and have an extra bedroom and they are staying with you for half a week, you still have to pay the bedroom tax, because they are not permanent residents.”
Mr Ager said Fairfield Housing Co-operative has been publicising the “bedroom tax” to its tenants.
He feels that if tenants do not pay, sheriffs would be “cautious” about taking action, but he believes that they would be forced to.
“What you will see is that there will be more and more cases coming up at the sheriff court,” he said.
“There are exclusions, such as pensioners, but generally it is pretty much across the board.
“I would say it will affect around 2,000 housing benefit tenants in Perth and Kinross.
“The bedroom tax is sneaking up on people many aren’t aware of it.
“There isn’t a lot of publicity coming out.
“The principle behind it is to make better use of affordable housing, but you have to be able to offer people options and they are not there.
“This is all on the back of welfare reforms, so a timebomb is coming.
“The housing benefit that used to be paid to us directly will change and tenants will have to pay their rent directly to landlords so it’s passing the stress on to people.
“The cynics in our game say people won’t pay, but I don’t think that will be the case.
“People will be met with the challenges in this austerity climate.
“There’s been pilot schemes down south where they have tried this and it’s been a disaster.
“The whole thing has gone from providing customer service to basically debt collection.
“It will mean significant changes.
“We’ve had to add to our staff and put in significant resources towards this now, and ultimately it will mean that rents will be pushed up.”
A spokesperson for the Department of Works and Pensions said: “Our housing benefit reforms will ensure that benefit claimants face the same choices about their housing that everyone else faces.
“Even with our reforms, housing benefit will meet rents of up to £21,000 a year and we have a discretionary fund in 2012/13 of £10 million to help families in Scotland in difficult situations.”
preoch@thecourier.co.uk