City authority diverts £2m from housing budget to help people struggling to pay 'bedroom tax'
Birmingham has just 75 one-bedroom council flats available for immediate occupation – and more than 11,000 people chasing them.
The scale of the housing crisis facing the city was laid bare by council figures which revealed a total of 11,257 applicants were on the waiting list for a one-bedroom home.
Officially, the city council has 208 such properties available to let – but just 75 are ready for occupiers to move into, with the rest still being worked on.
The authority said it had also been forced to divert £2 million away from schemes to improve council houses and build new ones to help those finding they could not pay their rent.
The Labour-run council said the figures revealed the misery inflicted on the needy by the Government’s controversial “bedroom tax”.
Birmingham Mail
