A claim that most people hit by the bedroom tax will be able to avoid hefty rent rises by moving house has been exposed as little more than wishful thinking in Birmingham.
The city council has just 190 one-bedroom houses and flats available to rent, for almost 15,000 local authority and social landlord tenants who are trying to move out of the two and three-bedroom houses they currently occupy.
Under Government welfare reforms, council and social landlord tenants face paying up to £20 a week more in rent because they are deemed to be occupying houses too large for their needs.
When the measure was first outlined in Parliament, Ministers claimed that the so-called bedroom tax would help solve the housing shortage because homes with un-used bedrooms would be released for rent as tenants moved to downsize.
However, almost all of the 15,000 people facing the under-occupancy charge in Birmingham will either have to