Today, a representative of the United Nations (UN) has told the UK’s government that the Bedroom Tax is “shocking”, threatens people’s human right to adequate housing, and should be scrapped.
The UN rapporteur on adequate housing, Raquel Rolnik, has been visiting the UK to gather evidence of the impact of the Bedroom Tax. Our community link workers have been gathering stories about the Tax since it emerged as an issue from one of our Schools of Participation (see this blog post for more details). So when the rapporteur visited Manchester, David Renshaw from Salford Axe the Bedroom Tax presented her with our data and case studies (see the photo).
Based on these stories and many more, the rapporteur has made a very strong statement about the Bedroom Tax, pointing out that we face a housing crisis in the UK, and that standards are actually falling here. Senior Conservative MPs are furious. But we know from our work that this Tax really is causing distress and suffering, and threatening people’s homes. We hope that politicians will listen, and obey international law.
- Read a story of the Bedroom Tax here
- Read Ms Rolnik’s comments here
- Read about Conservative responses here
- Revd Dr Giles Fraser has given a very clear explanation of why this is a human rights issue – read it here
