150 HAs join rescue scheme

The huge jump followed a plea from the Homes and Communities Agency for more housing associations to get involved. More than 150 have now signed up to administer the scheme across England.

The £205 million initiative launched in September 2008 to help up to 6,000 homeowners facing repossession. But an Inside Housing survey of 13 of the 22 homebuy agents signed up in August 2009 found they had capacity to help just 475 households.

Peter Jones, HCA head of investment (regional partnerships), said he was unable to say many households the scheme could now help, but that its capacity was ‘significantly higher’.

Forty-five of the 153 providers currently signed up are in the north west of England. The new housing associations will administer the scheme in partnership with the original 22 members, which will work as syndication agents for the rest of the network.

The agency is still looking for more partners, and Mr Jones said he hoped the increased numbers would encourage others to join. He revealed that a number of arm’s-length management organisations have also expressed interest in joining after Rochdale Boroughwide Housing announced last month that it would be the first ALMO in the country to participate (Inside Housing, 12 February).

Sir Bob Kerslake, chief executive of the HCA, said the scheme had helped 276 families by December 2009. ‘Now we have this established network of housing associations, many more people will have access to the scheme.’

Adactus Housing Association in Greater Manchester recently joined and aims to help five households initially. Garney Fazackerley, assistant director of development, said: ‘Our involvement will be relatively small but we aim to increase it in the future and help more homeowning families experiencing financial difficulties to avoid homelessness.’

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