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Over-60 bedroom blockers 'should be taxed out of their homes' to encourage them to leave ...
Daily Mail ^ | 20th October 2011 | Steve Doughty

Posted on 10/23/2011 5:55:55 PM PDT by little jeremiah

25million empty bedrooms across the country at a time when many are struggling to bu

Older people should be taxed out of their family homes to free up space for younger generations, says a report backed by Labour.

It argues that 'empty nesters' in their 60s are taking up too much room and should be 'encouraged' by a new 'land tax' to downsize to smaller homes.

The call comes from the Intergenerational Foundation, a left-leaning think-tank that aims to 'promote fairness between generations'.

Labour MP Tessa Jowell sponsored the report's launch in a Commons hospitality room yesterday, saying the current situation ran against Ed Miliband's vision for Britain.

But the 'bedroom blocker' plan drew condemnation from Tory ministers and pressure groups for older people.

Tory housing minister Grant Shapps said: 'We do not agree that people should be taxed or bullied out of their homes.'

The Intergenerational Foundation says there are 25million unused bedrooms in the country and eight million ‘under-occupied’ homes. More than half of people aged over 65 live in homes with two or more spare bedrooms that could be used by young families, it adds.

The report, Hoarding of Housing, says: ‘While younger families are increasingly being squeezed into small flats and under-sized houses, older people are often rattling around in big houses with many bedrooms standing empty, often for years.’

Report co-author Matthew Griffiths said: ‘It is perfectly understandable that retired people cling to their home long after it has outlived its usefulness as a place to bring a family up in.

‘But there are profound social consequences of their actions which are now causing real problems in a country where new house building is almost non-existent.

< snip >

(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Miscellaneous; News/Current Events; United Kingdom
KEYWORDS: communism; eurabia; feminism; immigration; intergenerational; londonistan; progressivism; romanticism; socialism; ungland
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To: 43north
Heaven help us!

We are not far from Logan's Run

41 posted on 10/23/2011 6:56:10 PM PDT by stormhill
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To: Blood of Tyrants

I was alone in a 6 bedroom house for 7 years.

Finally smartened up and downsized but,and it’s a big but,it was my decision.


42 posted on 10/23/2011 6:57:09 PM PDT by Mears (I can't take anymore of this.)
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To: little jeremiah

Nanny, nanny, nanny state?

These oldsters may want the rooms for many reasons. Family, a future home caretaker, or rent out to some student for extra cash.


43 posted on 10/23/2011 7:00:02 PM PDT by HiTech RedNeck (There's gonna be a Redneck Revolution! (See my freep page) [rednecks come in many colors])
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The Crown could quarter troops in them.


44 posted on 10/23/2011 7:03:33 PM PDT by ChuteTheMall (Tagline: (optional, printed after your name on post):)
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To: little jeremiah

Such things can be said in UK cause the citizens are not armed...


45 posted on 10/23/2011 7:04:37 PM PDT by goat granny
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To: little jeremiah

soylent green after organ harvesting...


46 posted on 10/23/2011 7:06:56 PM PDT by goat granny
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To: mowowie

Idiot idea, but nowhere is Islam mentioned.This FR obsession with getting the Muzzies in everywhere gets farcical at times.

Do you think all British Muslims are unemployed or that all young unemployed British are Muslim?.


47 posted on 10/23/2011 7:10:26 PM PDT by the scotsman (I)
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To: RightWingConspirator

Oh, silly you, they didnt.
As has been explained here many times.


48 posted on 10/23/2011 7:11:56 PM PDT by the scotsman (I)
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To: goat granny

a—not true. Rifles and shotguns are legal. Handguns and assault rifles are not. .22 air rifles and pistols are legal.

b—the British public was never a gunowning populace. The highest amount of legal handguns, rifles, shotguns was 1.5m in 1996. Given that like myself owners owned multiple guns, the amount of Brits who owned a gun would have been half a million, maybe slightly more, maybe less.

Your average Brit is more likely to own a collection of knives and samurai swords.


49 posted on 10/23/2011 7:17:04 PM PDT by the scotsman (I)
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To: Dilbert San Diego

It’s a silly argument, because if you REALLY want to make the old people shut up and go sit down because their turn is over and it’s onky fair to let the younger people play, you have to take away the right to vote. Old people stuff the ballot boxes and get all kinds of things past that arnt fair to younr people.


50 posted on 10/23/2011 7:19:39 PM PDT by ichabod1 (Nuts; A house divided against itself cannot stand.)
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To: JPG
Those who flap their gums about ‘fairness’ would be anything but if they ever seized control.

That's because those types use 'fair' to mean "Unfair to my benefit." (So do lots of others, come to think of it.)

51 posted on 10/23/2011 7:20:51 PM PDT by danielmryan
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To: little jeremiah
Tory housing minister Grant Shapps said: 'We do not agree that people should be taxed or bullied out of their homes.'

Well, Mr. Tory, you just bumped into their tradition. Bullying other people through the law has been their SOP for decades. In a very real sense, the term "nanny state" is a euphemism.

52 posted on 10/23/2011 7:24:49 PM PDT by danielmryan
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To: little jeremiah

As I recall the Soviet Union shared bedrooms in houses to accomadate families - sounds like too many communists/marxists in Britain.


53 posted on 10/23/2011 7:25:37 PM PDT by Citizen Soldier ("You care far too much what is written and said about you." Axelrod to Obama 2006)
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To: ladyvet

“Right out of Doctor Zhivago”

In the novel, Yuri Zhivago returns from the war front to find his father-in-law’s Moscow house occupied (!) by squatters installed there by the local Bolsheviks who treat him, his wife, and the FIL contemptuously as “class enemies” and relegate them to a single room in the once-sumptuous home.

One of the first nonofficial Americans to visit the USSR in the 1950’s was shown a former nobleman’s house where the Intourist guide boasted, “Once this house was lived in by a single despot. Today it is shared by ten families, members of the toiling masses!”

Yeah, I know it’s Britainistan and not the U.S. where this intergenerational genocide (let’s call it what it really is, folks) is even being seriously discussed.

And take care to reread those who posted that gun ownership is severely restricted in the U.K. where the people, most people, are for all intents and purposes completely disarmed and liable to prosecution if they DO discharge a firearm in self-defense.

The gun issue is important. The Bolshies’ very first demand was that all citizens surrender all types of arms to the State.

Personally, my wife and I will take our two bedroom condo over rattling around in a large empty house any day. But that choice was made by us, not “for” us.

So glad I live in America and not somewhere else. I like my guns, too.


54 posted on 10/23/2011 7:40:30 PM PDT by elcid1970 ("Deport all Muslims. Nuke Mecca now. Death to Islam means freedom for all mankind.")
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To: the scotsman; little jeremiah
‘But there are profound social consequences of their actions which are now causing real problems in a country where new house building is almost non-existent.

Instead of forcing people out of their homes why not deal with the causes of the above problem. Why is there no new homes being built in Britain.

Is it possible that the laws of Realm are an impediment to new home construction?

Is it possible that those advocating for this tax really don’t want new home construction and would rather attack the older established generation than deal with problems caused by their fellow socialist?

55 posted on 10/23/2011 7:44:42 PM PDT by Pontiac (The welfare state must fail because it is contrary to human nature and diminishes the human spirit.)
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To: little jeremiah

I want to know why new housing is unheard of over there. If nothing else, it’s an economic engine that I can’t see how Britain does without.


56 posted on 10/23/2011 7:46:05 PM PDT by Melas (u)
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To: Melas

I think the answer is simply too many people in “council housing”.


57 posted on 10/23/2011 7:47:14 PM PDT by little jeremiah (We will have to go through hell to get out of hell.)
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To: Pontiac; the scotsman

What I said to Melas above - “council housing” iow welfare or whatever they call it there.


58 posted on 10/23/2011 7:48:25 PM PDT by little jeremiah (We will have to go through hell to get out of hell.)
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To: Pontiac

My question as well. My wife, raised in Europe has pointed out that it could just be that it’s a small island.


59 posted on 10/23/2011 7:48:41 PM PDT by Melas (u)
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To: little jeremiah
what makes these idiots think that young families can AFFORD these larger homes? or do they intend to give them to them once the ones that paid for them are forced out???
60 posted on 10/23/2011 7:50:18 PM PDT by Chode (American Hedonist - *DTOM* -ww- NO Pity for the LAZY)
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