Domestic violence affects one in four women in their lives. Two women a week are killed by a partner or former partner and three quarters of a million children in the UK witness domestic violence every year.
The introduction of the bedroom tax is having an unacceptable and dangerous impact on women who have experienced domestic violence, and councils must take action.
Figures released today showed the number of private tenants in severe arrears – two months or more behind on their rent – has fallen sharply to the lowest level in two years.
The latest Tenant Arrears Tracker figures, by LSL Property Services, are the lowest since the third quarter of 2011 when the number last stood below 70,000.
The Conservative Party will look at axing housing support for under-25s as part of its manifesto for the next election, the prime minister confirmed this week.
Setting a clear direction of travel, David Cameron told delegates at the Conservative Party conference in Manchester on Wednesday that he wanted to see ‘bold action’ in ending welfare dependency among young people.
The National Empty Homes Loan Fund (NEHLF) has received enquiries for funding worth over £1 million in its first month.
The scheme, which is aimed at bringing some of England’s 710,000 empty homes back into affordable use, has been inundated with enquiries as property owners apply for funds to renovate their houses.
A WOMAN who cannot share a bedroom with her partner because of disability has won a landmark ruling that reducing her welfare benefits under the bedroom tax is a breach of her human rights.
The woman, who has multiple sclerosis, won her appeal against Glasgow City Council’s decision to apply the 14 per cent deduction for her “spare” bedroom at a tribunal hearing.
Adults and children with disabilities who are challenging the government’s bedroom tax have been granted permission to take their fight to the Court of Appeal after losing a High Court challenge earlier this year.
Giving his reasons for granting an appeal hearing, the Rt. Hon. Lord Justice Aikens said that the cases "raise issues of public importance concerning the amended housing benefit scheme and the needs of disabled/ young people and so should be considered by the Court of Appeal. Further, the points raised in the grounds of appeal and the proposed ‘skeleton’ argument have a reasonable prospect of success.”
‘Bizarre’ government guidelines place onus on landlords not local authorities to define a bedroom
Government guidance issued to local authorities this week on how to classify a bedroom for the purposes of the bedroom tax has been panned as ‘bizarre’ and ‘wrong’ by experts.
A London local authority will pay up to half a million pounds to families it housed in bed and breakfasts for more than six weeks following an official inquiry.
A report by the Local Government Ombudsman published today found the local authority’s actions were unjust after it housed homeless families in B&Bs beyond six-weeks.
More than 50,000 people affected by the so-called bedroom tax have fallen behind on rent and face eviction.
The statistics reveal the scale of debt created by the Government’s under-occupancy charge, as one council house tenant in three has been pushed into rent arrears since it was introduced in April.
The United Nations' special rapporteur on the right to adequate housing has told the Tory-led coalition that it should abolish its controversial bedroom tax.
Raquel Rolnik spoke to social housing tenants across the country during a two-week visit and heard "shocking" accounts from those hit by the under-occupancy policy.