Cuts to housing benefits, introduced in April, have had a more detrimental impact on homeowners than first expected, the National Housing Federation said today.
Bedroom tax, which applies to claimants of working age, living in social housing with a spare bedroom , imposed an average payment cut of £14 per week from the beginning of April.
The government has responded saying that the impact of bedroom tax is being monitored closely.
David Orr, chief executive of the National Housing Federation said: "The impact is at least as bad as we had anticipated, in many respects even worse."
What we've seen are really bad effects on individuals, people whose lives have been turned upside down, who are very frightened about the future."
One of the government's primary aims for cutting housing benefit was to get people to move and free up homes for families in crowded properties.
Housing Associations are today saying that the cuts have simply created more empty homes, because tenants cannot afford to move into them.
Read more about Bedroom Tax on our housing blog