Bedroom tax nightmare worse than Afghanistan, says war veteran reduced to living on £5 a day

FORMER soldier Dennis Buchan lost almost half his benefits due to the introduction of the tax and faces eviction from his Arbroath home despite risking his life in Afghanistan.

Dennis says he feels betrayed

AN Afghanistan veteran is living on £5 a day because of the bedroom tax – and now faces eviction.

Dennis Buchan lost almost half his benefits when he was put into a three-bedroom home after his marriage ended. He is set to be thrown on to the streets on Wednesday.

The young dad said: “I was better off in Afghanistan – it was less stressful.

“I risked my life for my country. I feel so let down. It makes me so angry to have been left to struggle like this.”

The 28-year-old, who completed two tours of duty in Afghanistan during a decade in the Army, took redundancy from the forces last year to be closer to his wife and son.

Dennis has lost half his benefits

 
When the marriage broke down, Dennis’s wife moved out of their council home to her native Belfast with their son.

Angus Council offered the former lance corporal a one-bedroom property in Brechin.

But his parents live 12 miles away in Arbroath and he needed their support as he struggled to cope with civilian life and the collapse of his marriage.

He is also doing tree-felling courses in Arbroath to help him find work.

Dennis was also offered a bedsit in Arbroath but it was unsuitable because his son could not live there when he visits.

The council then offered him temporary accommodation in a three-bedroom flat in Arbroath, which he accepted.

Dennis's three-bedroom flat in Arbroath

When the bedroom tax was introduced by the Con-Dem Government in April, Dennis’s weekly benefits of £71 were slashed by £31.

Because he turned down the bedsit and the Brechin accommodation, he has been told he will be evicted.
And as his parents have no room for him, he could end up sleeping rough,

Dennis, 28, said: “I feel that I have no choices that are going to give me any kind of quality of life. For months I have struggled with no money through no fault of my own and now I am going to end up on the streets.

“The way veterans like me are treated is completely inhumane.

“Even if by some miracle I am not evicted, I can’t afford to live like this.”

Housing and homelessness charity Shelter Scotland have been fighting on behalf of Dennis.

They have asked the UK Government to exempt homeless people in temporary accommodation from the bedroom tax, which cuts the benefits of those deemed to be living in homes with spare rooms.

The charity’s director Graeme Brown said: “The bedroom tax has a devastating impact on thousands of families and individuals living on a knife-edge, with some, like Dennis, facing the prospect of homelessness because they can’t afford to pay it.”

Angus Council said: “We offer temporary accommodation to people who find themselves homeless. When a tenant does not take up a reasonable offer of a permanent home, we no longer have a duty to house them.”

Dennis, who drove armoured vehicles in Afghanistan when he served with the Royal Logistics Corp, is one of 400,000 veterans in Scotland. Five thousand of them are unemployed and 5000 are homeless.

Daily Record