The increasingly ubiquitous Cllr Burton has taken to the York Press today to tell us that rent arrears have increased since the abolition of the spare room subsidy (bedroom tax).

Sadly for him that simply isn’t true.

 

The actual figures can be found on the Councils web site (click graphic).

They show that, with the improvement on the economy, fewer tenants are now in arrears than was the case 3 years ago.

In total 1017 tenants were affected by the removal of the spare room subsidy.

The government awarded the York Council £88,730.96 to offset any hardship that may have been caused by the change to benefit arrangements.

The total amount of discretionary housing payment spent on ‘removal of the spare room subsidy’ cases this financial year is £42,344.74.

154 tenants received payments.

NB. The Labour Council recently arbitrarily removed 2400 people from the housing waiting list.