Areas of Britain most affected by ’bedroom tax’ are hardest to downsize in, research finds

Research commissioned by government following housing benefit reforms finds increase in tenants self-selecting to downsize, but the areas hardest hit by reform are those least equipped with appropriate housing stock. Researchers found households increasingly cutting back on essentials such as food and heating to make up benefits shortfall. Access to homes for young people is getting harder in every direction: the cost of owning, demands on private renting. The RSRS restrictions are another barrier - Anna Clarke Research commissioned by the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) on the implementation and affects of housing benefit cuts for those working-age tenants judged to have 'spare' bedrooms in social housing has been released today. Part of the Welfare Reform Act of 2012, the cuts in housing benefit - termed the Removal of Spare Room Subsidy (RSRS) by the DWP, and dubbed by some as the 'Bedroom Tax' - has proved divisive, leading to public protests throughout the country. The policy impacts on around half a million households in the UK. The latest report is the second and final piece of research into the impact of the RSRS by Cambridge University's Centre for Housing and Planning Research , in association with Ipsos Mori.