'Sleep tax' will have a major controversial

OF all the changes that the Government has announced to Welfare Reform Act, I think the potential impact of 'bed tax' is the most controversial. Due to come into effect in April 2013, the consequences of this under the new occupancy tax seems to have not fully thought out the consequences in terms of social housing tenants. In bed tax, social housing tenants of working age who receive housing benefits will receive their payments cut if they are considered under the covers of their homes. They will have to pay, on average, an extra £ 40 per month if they have a spare room, £ 70 per month if they have two, or eventually be forced to move to a smaller home. Even household where every room could use a hit cut benefits because, under the strict new rules, children of both sexes are expected to share a room until the age of 16. So tenants and housing providers will be punished for having the wrong type of house, with estimates from the National Housing Federation (NHF) said that our region can be hit with a massive and 50,000 families potentially affected. Housing associations in the North East warnings do not have enough of the right size to potentially thousands of displaced tenants. Monica said Burns, manager for the NHF North East Press recently: "Housing associations in the North East has always been driven by the government to build a larger home so that families can stay in the same house for a living and not have to move when they have children. "Now both tenants and housing associations will be punished for having the wrong kind of house." One of our members, Coast and Country Housing, warned that a large number of tenants can be pushed into poverty as a result of reducing the housing benefit for under-employment, despite the lack of a small home. CEO Iain Sim they indicated they had a real reason for concern about the effects on their tenants. I know I'm not alone in thinking that there are many aspects of this change seems unfair, unjust and frankly difficult to maintain, has not been considered by either the Government or they refuse to acknowledge. The impact on housing and tenant, not only in this area, very spacious.