Rooms

When it comes to interviews my favourite media is radio — well some unkind soul did once tell me that I have a face for it — and last week it was BBC Radio Devon to discuss the so-called 'Bedroom Tax' which is not a tax at all but the removal of an 'under-occupancy subsidy' for social housing tenants with more bedrooms than they need.

This change means that for some the choice will be whether to accept less housing benefit or move to a property with the number of bedrooms suitable for their family. Pensioners are exempt.

I accept that this is not a comfortable position for many, especially where nearby alternative accommodation is unavailable, but whilst sympathising I made two important points on the Beeb.

Firstly, there are a million spare bedrooms in the rented social housing sector and yet we have a quarter of a million people living in overcrowded accommodation and two million on the housing waiting list who are desperate for a home with sufficient bedrooms.

I meet constituents at my surgeries who are very distressed that they are unable to find appropriate social housing, perhaps close to the community where they were born and brought up, due to the fact that others have spare bedrooms they don't really need.

Secondly, what cannot be overlooked is that, at a time of deep austerity, the costs of housing benefit have soared — having doubled (in real terms) under Labour. At £23-billion, this single benefit is costing more than we spend on the Army and Navy combined and more than we spend on the entire UK police force.

So it must be right that we work to make the money go further whilst helping those desperate for the spare bedrooms locked up in the social housing sector.