Bedroom tax: concern over homeless lodger scheme

Published by 24publishing for 24dash.com in Housing and also in Communities, Local Government

The leader of Crawley Borough Council has played down concerns tenants will be forced to take in a homeless lodger in its bid to mitigate the impacts of the Government’s under-occupation penalties which kick in from next year.

From next April, social tenants under-occupying their home by one bedroom will see their housing benefit reduced by 14 per cent. For two or more spare rooms, the reduction will increase to 25 per cent.

It has sent out a letter to 900 of the tenants affected informing them of the changes and the options they have, which include: increasing working hours, asking adults living in the household to pay more, taking in a lodger and downsizing.

However, concerns were raised by residents after the chairman of the council's financial deprivation scrutiny panel revealed that under a council scheme, people with a spare room in their house would be offered the chance to take in homeless ‘lodgers’ who the local authority would otherwise put up in B&Bs.

Crawley's Labour leader Peter Lamb revealed that he had received anxious calls from residents “terrified” they were going to end up with a stranger in their house.

Conservative councillor Bob Lanzer, leader of the council, told 24dash: "There’s no question of anybody being forced to take in lodgers. This is one of several ideas totally of choice. They could take in a lodger, they could downsize into a smaller property.”

Cllr Lamb feared some would feel forced into agreeing to accept a lodger through not wanting to move to a smaller home and being unable to afford to pay extra rent.

Mr Lanzer said the scheme was “yet to be finalised” but was “entirely optional" and something tenants may want to do if they wish to avoid a housing benefit reduction.

He said changes to the council tax benefit support system – also due to go live in April – was one of the "most difficult challenges I can remember in local government".

The Government is abolishing the current scheme where councils receive rebates on the financial support they provide. Instead, it has told them to come up with their own schemes from next April, cutting expenditure by 10% and handing them the money to administer it.

He said the council was looking into a scheme that would continue supporting claimants for up to 12 weeks once they had gained employment to tackle worklessness.