Through the Welfare Reform Bill, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is attempting to place restrictions on housing benefit for tenants living in homes deemed too large for their needs.
But according to the national body for England’s housing associations and the charity Fostering Network, foster carers will be penalised because they are required to have spare rooms for fostered children.
Federation chief executive David Orr said: "Ministers have failed to think through the potentially disastrous implications of imposing an under-occupation penalty on so many different groups of tenants.
"Under-occupation in the social housing sector should be tackled. But slashing people's housing benefit and pushing them into poverty is not the answer. The government should now seriously consider dropping this measure from its welfare reforms."
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