As another action-packed and controversial year for
housing draws to a close, Jules Birch looks back on the high, but mainly low,
points of 2014. Here’s a few selected high/lowlights;
JANUARY - Fergus Wilson, the king of buy to let, gets
into the Christmas spirit by sending eviction notices to his tenants on housing
benefit.
MARCH - Single mothers in temporary accommodation in
Oxford are offered new homes in Birmingham and Cardiff as the impact of the
benefit cap is felt outside London.
APRIL - Lib Dem president Tim Farron says the party will
“withdraw support” from the bedroom tax. A blind woman from Lincolnshire is
evicted from her home of 30 years over £210 of arrears and ends up sleeping
rough in a field.
JULY - By happy coincidence, the DWP chooses the day of
the Cabinet reshuffle to publish the much-delayed independent interim
evaluation of ‘the removal of the spare room subsidy’. Among the findings: 57%
of bedroom tax victims have cut back on household essentials; a third borrowed
money to pay the shortfall; and 4.5% had managed to downsize. Read more on 24housing.
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