An article in The Guardian by Polly Townbee is depressingly spot on about the current housing crisis and the even higher levels of homelessness that will occur when the ‘bedroom tax’ kicks in.
Her analysis is that the root cause is based on many years of not constructing enough new houses, but she also notes that currently voters do not see the public sector as being able to fix their housing problems.
We could also add that the UK has shied away from rent controls; even though these controls would limit housing benefit payments without hurting tenants, and would help people on low incomes just above the benefit thresholds. One estimate has nearly 60% of MPs also earning income as private landlords, and its a shame that they don’t have to ethically abstain on any votes to re-instate rent controls in the UK. Link:
m.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/feb/18/housing-crisis-bedroom-tax-failure-to-build