Autumn is upon us and as the nights draw in and we turn the heating on I believe we’re entering a crucial test on the true effects of the housing benefit changes introduced last April. There are already signs that the dreaded bedroom tax is hitting social housing tenants – landlord possession claims and court orders issued have seen double-digit increases and there has been a surge in discretionary housing payments.
But as the mild summer becomes a fading memory, we can expect increased pressures on family budgets – continued rises in energy, food prices rising, transport costs on the up not to mention the usual Christmas pressures on purses and wallets. For many social landlord tenants the cut of up to 25 per cent in housing benefit really could present a stark choice between heating and eating. I expect our growing number of food banks to be bustling.
For policy-makers, there is the immediate challenge of hardship as a result of these changes, and the medium-term challenges that have been accelerated since April. On the former, I think it’s crucial – morally and practically – for the Welsh Government to adopt a ‘no evictions’ policy for those who fall behind in rent as a result of the bedroom tax.
In Scotland, such a policy has already been adopted and councils in England are also considering this approach. If we fail to do so, I fear we face a new year of homelessness that will cause enormous upheaval for the most vulnerable. If we avoid the nuclear option of eviction then we prevent tenants spirally into further difficulty.
And looking to the medium term, everyone involved in the housing sector knows that it is a shortage of one and two bedroom social properties that often leads to people having spare rooms. Indeed, when I asked the First Minister how many smaller properties were required in this country if everyone hit by the bedroom tax decided to downsize, he estimated something in the region of 20,000 additional homes.
The UK Government has approached the issue of under-occupancy in a back-to-front way. It has acted regressively and cruelly. But if we in Wales take the first step of protection from eviction, then we can seize the opportunity to get building to create the 20,000 new smaller homes needed. Home- building has obvious social benefits but it could also contribute a much-needed shot in the arm for our fragile economy.
Building our way out of economic decline makes sense on all counts. I hope that before the spring thaw such policies are well underway.
Jocelyn Davies AM, Plaid Cymru housing and regeneration spokesperson