Bristol Council to hold off benefit change evictions

[super jumbe]

Families deemed to have a spare room will have their housing benefit claims reduced from April 1


Bristol City Council will not immediately evict any tenants unable to pay rent following a change in housing benefit rules, the mayor has announced.

Labelled as a "bedroom tax" by Labour, families deemed to have a spare room will have their housing benefit claims reduced from April.

An estimated 3,700 of the council's 28,000 households are likely to be affected by the changes.

Ministers say the changes are needed cut the ?23bn housing benefit bill.

A Bristol City Council cross-party working group is to be set up to examine the issue.

Mayor George Ferguson said: "The council will not evict any tenants for arrears they build up due to a genuine inability to pay this new sum until the cross-party working group has had time to examine the issue and propose a sustainable way forward

Mr Kent said: "We welcome this statement (by the mayor), but we continue to have grave concerns and believe that the government's policy of cutting housing benefit to people who cannot downsize because we have no smaller accommodation to move them to is fundamentally flawed.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bristol-21853011

[Lainie]

apparantly one council put a notice out or on a notice board basically saying if you are on benefit and you can afford to smoke, drink and watch sky all day then you can afford the bedroom tax. a massive revolt started and they withdrew it!! however its bloomin true. i dont smoke or drink much as i cant afford it so why should they. too many people are afraid to speak their minds these days.

[GastonJ]

Families deemed to have a spare room will have their housing benefit claims reduced from April 1

Mayor George Ferguson said: "The council will not evict any tenants for arrears they build up due to a genuine inability to pay this new sum until the cross-party working group has had time to examine the issue and propose a sustainable way forward

and then they'll take them to court and evict them after that. Doesn't say they won't, just says they'll hold off until then, by which time the tenants will have run up a fair bit of debt.