Quote:
Originally Posted by techguyone
You'd have thought that if only 3 bedroom houses were available, that it would be deemed as 'using what's available' rather than 'choosing to live in a bigger place' and paying the tax and an exemption would apply.
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I completely agree. If someone on benefits is living in a home that is too large for their needs, especially if the taxpayer is paying for it; then it's perfectly reasonable to ask them to move to an available smaller property.
The problem is that there just isn't the housing stock to accomodate them and the Government were perfectly aware of this.
There are many reasons that councils put people in overlarge properties, some examples are:
- The majority of their stock was built for more than one person, this is as the number of people living alone increases.
- For many years many councils and Housing Associations would put eg a newly married couple into a property with extra space. The reasoning behind this was that they would probably have children and would 'grow into the house' without having to uproot the family, change schools etc.
- It is better for someone to take an overlarge property that is hard to let than let it stay empty. Not only do councils lose the rental income, but they have to pay Council Tax on empty properties.
- This Government has made cuts to other benefits that have impacted on the most vulnerable too. For example, Community Care Grants have been abolished. These, amongst other things, were introduced to help families who have to move eg moving costs, plumbing in appliances etc. Without them, disabled people, families under pressure etc simply don't have the resources to move. Even the Thatcher Government who scrapped the Single Payments scheme recognised that some sections of society deserved extra help and so Community Care Grants were born.
They have been put in a position where they can't afford to move or stay.
Taken together, this Government has created homelessness, death through malnutrition and even driven people to suicide.