It's an emotive subject because I suppose someone who has lived in their two three or four bedroom property, brought up their family and now find themselves either alone or with OH and now only needing one bedroom, means they must move or pay the extra 'tax' on the rooms they are not using. The assumption is that they are likely to be older (if children have grown up and left hence less need for extra bedrooms) and now perhaps depending on the state to pay for their housing,so paying the extra amount from a state pension or very low income would be very tight. 

Although I can understand the need for homes with more bedrooms for larger families, it has an impact on the changes for these people. Where are all the one bedroom properties going to come from? As far as I understand it, very few HA's build 1 bed properties for people because it isn't cost effective on the rental return. Local councils aren't building new properties, they don't have the money. That leaves the private sector and that's not very useful to either private landlords or ex council/HA tenants, because rents are often higher than housing benefit will pay. Private landlords could reduce their rents but doubt they will and many don't want DS tenants so that isn't an ideal solution either.

It's not the first time a government has levied taxes on properties. They never seem to learn. There was brick tax and later window tax which lasted about 150 years and ended in 1851. People at the time argued that they lost the right to light and air... Owners and landlords just bricked up the windows on properties where they weren't prepared to pay the tax. Maybe people with extra rooms should brick up their extra doorways until more "single" bedroom accommodation can be made available for them...