The 'bedroom tax' - where is the equality?

As a rule, a household tends to live according to their means, or at least their perception of the resources at their disposal, whether in the social housing sector, private sector, or a home-owner.

If, after being given a three bedroom property, a family decide to fill it with 10 children (and we have seen examples of this in various documentaries recently), so be it. Many families choose to have only one or two children and will consider that they have sufficiently ‘filled’ their three bedroom property.

Unfortunately, due to the message given out by the media, the general public are under the misconception that those renting in the social housing sector have an abundance of spare bedrooms. When I point out to my three bedroom, home-owning friends that if they rented in the social housing sector they and their two same-sex children would be deemed to be under-occupying, the penny drops and the level of UK Government interference in family life is appreciated.

The administrative aspect of what the UK Government are calling ‘under-occupancy’ must now be a logistical administrative nightmare. With concessions being made for children with disabilities, parents with children in the Armed Forces, foster carers and older people, the scale of the administrative task is now surely eroding away any savings which the UK Government maintains might have been made from this reform.

Supporting politicians point to an inequality in the previous system and compare housing benefit under-occupancy regulations with Local Housing Allowance regulations. But the reality is, as many private renters will tell you, they receive an allowance which they can use towards any property they can access. Many private renters can and do find properties larger than their ‘need’ but are still able to cover it with LHA and are therefore able to live according to the means at their disposal. Conversely, in the social sector tenants are subject to a deduction for spare bedrooms, irrespective of where they live.

Now where’s the equality in that?

Clare James
Housing Services Policy Officer

What is regeneration worth and who decides?

Chris Brown, Chief Executive of Igloo Regeneration, considers the central role that local communities play in regeneration and says: 'Regeneration, by definition, will always require money to flow into a neighbourhood from outside. But when money is scarce the difference between successful regeneration and none at all can be the strength of organisation of the local community.'

Read more on CREW Regeneration Wales' website.

'Deep Study' of Tredegar - CREW Regeneration Wales

This is a busy time for CREW Regeneration Wales. We have an active work programme lined up for the next three years, and details of our ongoing work, together with our continually expanding resources, can always be found on our website: www.regenwales.org

Amongst our other work, for each of the next three years we are committed to undertaking a major research project. This year we are undertaking a 'Deep Study' of Tredegar. Our goal is to develop a holistic understanding of Tredegar as an area of significant deprivation. We are also seeking to identify what opportunities exist and what actions need to be taken over the next ten years to create a sustainable community by 2030.

In this initial phase of the project we are establishing partnerships between professionals across the policy fields, and breaking down the silos so that professionals from different areas of public life can work together.  Our Steering Group includes professionals from housing, economic development, transport and health fields, as well as people with particular expertise in community food and energy production, sustainability and community engagement.

We will be posting project updates to our website as we progress, and will also making use of Twitter: @CREWRegenWales.

Dr Mark Lang, Senior Researcher
CREW Regeneration Wales