Sunday People newspaper launches ‘crusade’ to keep bedroom tax

Dingbat

Trinity Mirror's The Sunday People have decided to launch a ‘crusade’ against the Bedroom Tax…by keeping it. Not only do they recycle the cross-party falsity that the “housing benefit bill must be reduced”, but their political hack, Nigel Nelson, thinks he’s got the solution to the Bedroom Tax after proclaiming it “wrong, wrong, wrong”. His solution? “[L]et local authorities determine individual claims case-by-case.”

Yeah, Nigel, that will make it right. (add shed loads of dry sarcasm).

Case-by-case would involve costly, invasive assessments, similar to the humiliating ATOS assessments, by local authorities to determine whether you are or whether you aint subject to the Bedroom Tax.

In Liverpool, the Housing Associations' Welfare Reform Group set up a database last year to swap information on tenants affected by the bedroom tax and who were likely to go into arrears, so they already know specific details.

Even if particular cases were made exempt from the Bedroom Tax via case-by-case, that would still leave 100’s of 1000’s of tenants not exempt and still liable to pay the shortfall.

Clearly, the tabloid hasn’t thought this through (or has --->) and decided to jump on what it probably foresees as a paper-selling opp.

The Bedroom Tax needs to be smashed outright, and that will only be achieved by tenant solidarity and direct action --not by devolving it to local authorities. That’s the only way we’ll combat the Bedroom Tax.

combatbedroomtax@gmail.com

The Localis Document: Blueprint for the Destruction of Social Housing

The image above is the title page of the Localis Principles for Social Housing Reform document. It was published in 2009 by think-tank Localis and authored by Stephen Greenhalgh and John Moss. Stephen Greenhalgh is a Tory dirtbag who’s currently under investigation by the IPCC for offering preferential treatment to tenants on new housing if they OK’d the demolition of their existing homes. John Moss is another Tory, who ran for election in 2005 and has worked under Lord Heseltine.

The document set out the trajectory-of-attack on social housing —and as soon as the Conservatives got into power they set the fucking thing in motion. It’s a horrible piece of ideology that will make your fingernails explode, but the truly stomach churning bit is Appendix 1, in which Greenhalgh and Moss set out the necessary amendments and repeals to legislation that would bring the social housing sector close to total privatisation.

Alterations to legislation involved recommending repealing all sections of Local Government Acts “limiting the ability of councils to operate commercially”; and abolish all sections of the 1989 Local Government and Housing Act to allow “controlled and influenced companies” to operate on a par with private companies. Most insiders will say here that this is standard stuff, common knowledge. But it’s not if you don’t know. Tenants are still working out how the Bedroom Tax will affect them personally, never mind think-tank policy that’s been worked on for years, decades even, by squads of Tory professionals.

Regarding the Bedroom Tax, it is disturbing to now see it in its true form: a mechanism to enable the reconfiguration of social housing into private housing at market rents; and even more disturbing to see human lives cast aside for daring to live in homes the government now sees as profitable units for the taking. Those monitoring Universal Credit will be interested to see the proposal to “abolish the Housing Benefits scheme” and “enable a new means-tested unified benefit to provide for a single housing and income support benefit.” Ring any bells?

The Localis document is also punctuated with myths about “inter-generational dependency”, worklessness, and the deserving/undeserving rhetoric picked up by suits throughout parliament to score votes and block solidarity amongst the working class. Localis even go as far as enabling “councils to discharge their homelessness duties” to free up housing for more “economically active households.”

The clincher, though, is the “[o]ther areas needing examination/amendment” section of Appendix 1, which calls for the removal of “anything which limits the powers of housing associations, Trusts, or similar bodies to trade commercially for community benefit, including the creation of for-market dwellings” and “amend any clauses which prohibit housing associations, Trusts, or similar bodies from operating for profit, and paying dividends of more than £1 to shareholders”. Says it all really.

Beneath DWP pretences of “growing housing benefit expenditure” and the housing ‘crisis’ glowers a renewed accumulation of our common resources by private interests, aided by the State. It amounts to an attack on the poor by the rich; and this document provided, and is providing, the pathway to destroying the remainder of our social housing.

Housing association to offer cash bribes to shift tenants out of their homes

Another contemptuous move by housing associations today as one ‘social’ landlord is considering the idea of offering bungs to shift tenants, hit by the Bedroom Tax, out of their homes. Aster group is offering to pay tenants the amount they would lose due to the Bedroom Tax if they move. 

From the 1st of April 2013, tenants of housing associations & social landlords will be hit by a possible 25% cut in their housing benefit if they under-occupy their home. This means: 1 spare room will see a 14% reduction in housing benefit; 2 spare rooms will see a 25% reduction in housing benefit. 660,000 tenants & their families will be affected nationwide.

In simple terms, it’s a bribe, a bung that underlines the contempt that housing associations have for tenants, to think that they might be tempted by the lump sum and give up their community, friends, support network, and crucially their home, in order to appease the forthcoming headache facing housing associations (HA’s). Here in Liverpool, one HA had the gall to consider getting tenants to work, unpaid, clearing litter, etc. to make up the shortfall in their rent. Let it be known, Housing Associations are no better than the bailiffs they’ll send round to collect the Bedroom Tax.

That’s why it’s important that we, as tenants, make a stand together and take action against the government, housing associations, collection officers, bailiffs, and the Bedroom Tax.

This should not be about 'move' or 'stay': it should be about refusing to pay the unjust tax full stop.

email combatbedroomtax@gmail.com for more info.

Combat the Bedroom Tax: Bootle, Liverpool Tenants Meeting - Wed, 13th Feb 2013

On Wednesday 13th February, Stand Up in Bootle! & Combat the Bedroom Tax will be holding a tenant-led meeting at Madigan's Lighthouse in Bootle, Liverpool. This is part of a series of tenants meeting happening across Liverpool to Combat The Bedroom Tax

From the 1st of April this year, the government will cut the housing benefit of over 600,000 social housing tenants, if they are considered to have a ‘spare room’. If you have 1 spare bedroom the cut is 14%, if you have 2 then 25%.

The Bedroom Tax affects nearly 12,000 people in Liverpool; many will be expected to uproot their families, move away from their communities, their support networks and downsize to properties that simply do not exist; those who decide to stay will be constantly battling to make up the shortfall in rent. This should not be a question of move or stay: it should be about refusing to pay the tax, full stop.

We argue that a stand now against the Bedroom Tax, based on Solidarity and Direct Action, will put down roots of resistance to allow us to better defend ourselves against a broader attack that extends well beyond 2013. If we do nothing now, the repercussions of the Bedroom Tax will cause greater hardship & increased evictions in the run-up to the implementation of Universal Credit.

By taking action together we can fight the Bedroom Tax!

Join the fight against the Bedroom Tax. Meet at:

Madigan's Lighthouse
206 Knowsley Rd
Bootle
Liverpool
L20 4NU
Time: 1pm

Bootle Tenants Meeting Facebook page:  https://www.facebook.com/events/565103480183766/

email combatbedroomtax@gmail.com for more info.

Combat the Bedroom Tax: Dingle/Toxteth Liverpool Tenants Meeting - Mon, 11th February 2013

Combat the Bedroom Tax is holding a series of tenant-led district meetings to organise resistance to the Bedroom Tax. On Monday 11th February a meeting will be held at The Florrie for Dingle/Toxteth tenants.

From the 1st of April this year, the government will cut the housing benefit of over 600,000 social housing tenants, if they are considered to have a ‘spare room’. If you have 1 spare bedroom the cut is 14%, if you have 2 then 25%.

The Bedroom Tax affects nearly 12,000 people in Liverpool; many will be expected to uproot their families, move away from their communities, their support networks and downsize to properties that simply do not exist; those who decide to stay will be constantly battling to make up the shortfall in rent. This should not be a question of move or stay: it should be about refusing to pay the tax, full stop.

We argue that a stand now against the Bedroom Tax, based on Solidarity and Direct Action, will put down roots of resistance to allow us to better defend ourselves against a broader attack that extends well beyond 2013. If we do nothing now, the repercussions of the Bedroom Tax will cause greater hardship & increased evictions in the run-up to the implementation of Universal Credit.

By taking action together we can fight the Bedroom Tax.

Join the fight against the Bedroom Tax. Meet at:

The Florrie
377 Mill St
Toxteth
Liverpool
L8 4RF
7pm-8.30pm

Disabled access throughout.

Any problems email: combatbedroomtax@gmail.com
Combat the Bedroom Tax Dingle/Toxteth Liverpool Tenants Meeting Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/events/497359270316025/

Join Liverpool Tenants in the Fight Against the Bedroom Tax

A group of 15-20 people met tonight for the first South Liverpool meeting to organise against the Bedroom Tax. Energy and momentum is high, and with less than 3 months until the introduction of this intentional and divisional attack on the working class, Combat the Bedroom Tax is working flat-out to spread the ideas of Solidarity and Direct Action in South Liverpool communities. Over the next weeks and months, meetings will be set up calling on tenants to thrash out the terms of their resistance against an unprecedented attack, by the State and its Capitalist cronies, on our welfare.

The Bedroom Tax affects nearly 12,000 people in Liverpool; many will be expected to uproot their families, move away from their communities, their support networks and downsize to properties that simply do not exist; those who decide to stay will be constantly battling to make up the shortfall in rent. This should not be a question of move or stay: it should be a refusal to pay, full stop.

We argue that a stand now against the Bedroom Tax, based on Solidarity and Direct Action, will put down roots of resistance to allow us to better defend ourselves against a broader attack that extends well beyond 2013. If we do nothing now, the repercussions of the Bedroom Tax will cause greater hardship & evictions in the run-up to the implementation of Universal Credit.

Liverpool tenants are beginning to say No! to the Bedroom Tax and we are asking tenants and tenant networks, nationally, to join us in action and solidarity. Form networks in neighbourhoods affected by the Bedroom Tax and link up with tenants in Liverpool.

We'll also be demonstrating against Housing Associations on the 7th & 28th February, inbetween and beyond:

Ruckus Against Liverpool Mutual Homes - 7th Feb: https://www.facebook.com/events/472210886178901/
Stand Up for Social Housing in Bootle! - 28th Feb: https://www.facebook.com/events/309364012518148/

combatbedroomtax@gmail.com
@claimantnetwork on twitter
Combat the Bedroom Tax on Merseyside facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/555921791103090/

Liverpool Tenants Say No to the Bedroom Tax

Saturday 12^th of January saw around 100 tenants attend the Defend Your Home Against the Bedroom Tax public meeting at the Black-E Community/Arts Centre in Liverpool.

Reports on the meeting can be found here http://infantile-disorder.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/angry-liverpool-bedroom-tax-meeting.html & here http://solfed.org.uk/?q=liverpool/liverpool-public-meeting-combat-the-bedroom-tax

Tenants in Liverpool are rightly furious over the Bedroom Tax and the complicity of Housing Associations in its implementation. Tenants will have to find around a £1000 a year from April to plug the cut in Housing Benefit, something that is simply unaffordable for people also facing a cut in Council Tax Support and the benefit cap. There are over 700,000 empty homes that could be brought back into use, but the government prefers to kick people out of their homes instead to pave the way for the private sector to move in.  The message from the meeting was loud and clear:

WE CAN’T PAY! and WE WON’T PAY!

With less than 3 months to go before the Bedroom Tax kicks in, we must move fast. And we are! Regular meetings have already been set up to organize resistance against the tax and February will see 2 actions taking place in Liverpool to let Housing Associations know that we, as tenants, will not be bullied or harassed:

Thursday 7th February - Ruckus at Liverpool Mutual Homes

Housing Associations have been complicit in the implementation of the Bedroom Tax since Day 1, and none more so than Liverpool Mutual Homes (LMH) who manage 15,000 homes in the City.

As well as issuing mind-numbing advice to tenants about the Bedroom Tax, the Chief Exec. of LMH, Steve Coffey, is even proposing the idea of getting tenants to do unpaid work, or workfare, to make up the shortfall in their rent: http://antiworkfare.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/the-return-of-workhouse.html

Make no bones about it, LMH won't hesistate to start legal proceedings if they can't collect the rent. They've even been to court over the treatment of their staff. That's why we, as tenants, need to make it known to LMH that we won't take any bullying or harassment.

Invite your family, friends, neighbours and community to the Ruckus at Liverpool Mutual Homes on Thurs 7th February and let's make sure LMH get the message:

We Can't Pay and We Won't Pay!

Bring Banners & Noise!

Facebook event page: https://www.facebook.com/events/472210886178901/

Thursday 28th February - Stand Up for Social Housing in Bootle!

A demonstration at One Vision Housing to let the people of Bootle air their views and let out their frustration about bedroom tax for those who claim benefits and live in social housing such as that of one vision and riverside housing.

We will meet at the One Vision Office in Caspian Place (off Stanley Road) and if numbers permit we can march down to the council offices at the front of the strand with support of taxi drivers hooting and drummers drumming!!

Facebook event page: https://www.facebook.com/events/309364012518148/

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We also need to connect with tenant networks around the country who are taking or considering a no-payment stance. Please get in touch at combatbedroomtax@gmail.com

This is not the time for lobbying or petitioning. These methods will only disempower us.

The only option we have left is Direct Action: taking matters into our own hands and defending the homes we live in using a diversity of tactics.

Say NO! and Combat the Bedroom Tax!
Combat the Bedroom Tax FB page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/555921791103090/
Combat the Bedroom Tax e-mail: combatbedroomtax@gmail.com

I Direct Action Your Petition and Raise You Smashy

Wholly Digital Activism is anathema to direct action and there is nothing more stultifying than the glut of online ‘political’ petitions that are currently festooning social media sites.

We are less than 3 months away from one of the worst attacks on the social wage in the last 30 years and tens of thousands of people are being consumed by, admittedly well meaning, petitions initiated by signature grabbers. Not only do digital petitioners obsess over their petitions, but they also obsess over how many members they can get to join their associated Facebook group, constantly boasting about people clicking the join button, and each click taking a bite out of our capacity for direct action.

Digital activism definitely has its place in the broader picture of ways to connect, communicate & organise politically but it has severe limitations and can never replace direct human interaction. In fact, it’s dangerous to think it can, and worryingly this seems to be the case in the run-up to April, when a raft of cuts are enacted that will decimate people’s health and security.

Rather than empowering people, wholly digital activism and digital petitions disempower individuals by providing a false sense of action that leads to nowhere. It is borne out of a real desire to act but it removes our capacity to change our own circumstances, with others, in a real setting.

By signing digital petitions we become partially satisfied that we have done something —certainly something is better than nothing, but we cannot base a campaign or protest around a method that implores the State to change or address a specific issue affecting us. In doing so, we hand over to the State both authority over ourselves and our capacity to affect change.

Digital petition-signing, even if they are successful once in a blue moon, also undermine our ability to build confidence and solidarity within our class. By using direct action, we take matters into our own hands and achieve our demands through our own self-activity. We need not petition the State to do this.