The simply evil "bedroom tax" is looking well set to become the "Poll tax" type trigger for significant social unrest - I've seen figures of up to 600,000 people potentially facing eviction as they inevitably fall behind with their rent payments.Many of them families with disabled children/partners. I also understand that another looming change is that social housing/council rents for people on benefits will soon no longer be paid directly to the housing association , but paid to tenants to pay. The inevitable result of this will be that lots of tenants with substance abuse and mental health problems will quickly fail to also keep up with their rent payments - in addition to those facing the "Bedroom tax" burden. Hence an even bigger grouping for longer term potential eviction for rent areas emerges.
Unfortunately the likely future social housing evictions nightmare is not necessarily only a potential growth point for Left/progressive activity. I know from conversations with people connected to BNP activists in Stockport for instance that they are absolutely licking their lips at the prospect of long established White families who have lived on big, almost entirely White Council/social housing estates (where the BNP often have deep roots) all their lives in the same house, facing future eviction because of the new Bedroom Tax burden (perhaps because the children have now left home, leaving the parents with "empty" bedrooms). Imagine if the local Housing Association or Council not only evicts the family but also tries to place a large Black/Asian family in that house. These areas could well explode in that situation - and in an entirely reactionery direction. In fact the mere prospect of this is a rallying point for the fascists, and is apparently raising their moral in what has been a disastrously demoralising period for BNP activists since the BNP local electoral surge collapsed .
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Unfortunately the likely future social housing evictions nightmare is not necessarily only a potential growth point for Left/progressive activity. I know from conversations with people connected to BNP activists in Stockport for instance that they are absolutely licking their lips at the prospect of long established White families who have lived on big, almost entirely White Council/social housing estates (where the BNP often have deep roots) all their lives in the same house, facing future eviction because of the new Bedroom Tax burden (perhaps because the children have now left home, leaving the parents with "empty" bedrooms). Imagine if the local Housing Association or Council not only evicts the family but also tries to place a large Black/Asian family in that house. These areas could well explode in that situation - and in an entirely reactionery direction. In fact the mere prospect of this is a rallying point for the fascists, and is apparently raising their moral in what has been a disastrously demoralising period for BNP activists since the BNP local electoral surge collapsed .
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