The Divisive State of Social Policy : The ‘Bedroom Tax’, Austerity and Housing Insecurity

Drawing on first person accounts and participant observation, this book looks in-depth at one of the UK government’s most controversial austerity policies, the ‘Bedroom Tax’. Focusing on the lives of 31 people in one neighbourhood, it explores the push and pull factors that structure tenants’ behaviour regarding downsizing to smaller properties within a residualised and stigmatised social housing sector. It highlights the meaning of home and the continuing relevance of community and the tensions created when tenants are faced with the threat of displacement and the concomitant loss of social networks and informal structures of welfare that operate __in place__. While this book focuses on one social policy, it speaks to broader concerns about the value and loss of social housing and how we care for and house our most vulnerable citizens in the midst of neoliberal restructuring. It reflects on the continuing loss of housing benefit support, on-going cuts to the welfare state and what this means for communities and their sense of security and belonging. More broadly, it reflects on how cuts to housing benefit support are undermining the capacity of low income households to secure and maintain housing within a social sector that faces new financial risks and a private rented sector in which the term ‘no DSS’ has made a resurgence. The central argument of this book is that policies such as the Bedroom Tax which undermine secure housing are divisive, heightening resentment about access to housing while leading to increasing housing inequality and urban marginality.

The 'Bedroom Tax' has been one of the most contentious aspects of the UK government's austerity politics. In this book, Kelly Bogue provides an authoritative assessment of its social impacts. The Divisive State of Social Policy traces the links between housing resources and societal tensions by looking closely at one housing estate. The book explores issues related to Housing Benefit reform, including housing precarity, poverty and damage to social networks. This is a vivid picture of the sharp end of austerity politics and welfare reform, and it gets to the heart of the meanings of home and community in the UK today.

Front cover Title Page Copyright Page Dedication Table of Contents List of terms and abbreviations Acknowledgements 1. Introduction: the repositioning of social housing and welfare provision 2. Life without state-supported housing 3. Living in a state of insecurity 4. Social housing insecurity as policy and ideology 5. Divisive social policy: the competition for physical and symbolic resources 6. Community and belonging 7. Housing precarity and advanced marginality in the UK Appendix Notes References Index Back cover Few aspects of austerity politics have been as divisive as the `Bedroom Tax'. This book provides a vivid and authoritative assessment of the impact of social housing reform on tenants and society, using personal stories from one estate to explore its connections to issues including housing precarity, poverty and damage to social networks. Few aspects of austerity politics have been as divisive as the 'Bedroom Tax'. This book provides a vivid and authoritative assessment of the impact of social housing reform on tenants and society, using personal stories from one estate to explore its connections to issues including housing insecurity, poverty and damage to social networks