WHAT is mortgage rescue? And who is being rescued? In England, so far, it seems to be about saving the banks, developers and, if this week's Inside Housing story is anything to go by, the government's image.

In contrast, the devolved administrations in the rest of the UK seem to be concentrating on rescuing hard-pressed home owners. Within the last month, the Welsh government has announced an extra £5m for its mortgage rescue scheme and the Northern Ireland government has revealed plans for one scheme for mortgage to rent and another for reverse staircasing. 

In England, a working group of associations, lenders and the CLG is discussing a national mortgage rescue scheme. Meanwhile the Chartered Institute of Housing is calling for a reverse equity scheme to enable social landlords to buy part of a home from owners in trouble. But an 'additional' £9m for face-to-face debt advice turns out to be not quite what it said on the tin.

As became clear during the last housing market recession, mortgage rescue schemes are by no means a panacea. However, with 45,000 repossessions forecast this year, it is clear that the government needs to find a counterpart to its £50m credit facility for the banks and its £200m mini-housing market package to buy unsold homes from developers. And it will have to do better than a 'rescue package' which is actually a cut.

Posted by Jules Birch, June 13

Posted in Repossessions , Wales, Northern Ireland

ANYONE in Scotland, England or Wales who feels hard done by in the spending review should spare a thought for Margaret Richie. The Northern Ireland social development minister says she is facing the possibilty of no social sector starts at all next year.

Richie is meeting English housing minister Yvette Cooper today to hear about how the government is tackling the shortage of affordable housing in England. She's also meeting a range of stakeholders and academics and visiting two London housing schemes.

In a statement issued before leaving yesterday the SDLP minister said she faced a 63% shortfall in capital needed to tackle social housing as a result of last month's draft investment strategy for Northern Ireland and was looking to learn from the English experience. However, Northern Irish politicians may have an exagerrated impression of Cooper's budget and powers of persuasion if the statement is anything to go by. 'I am very keen therefore to hear how the British Government plans to deliver on its recent pledge to provide three million more social and affordable homes [our emphasis] in England by 2020,' she says.

The budget shortfall came despite last year's Semple review calling for an extra 10,000 social rented homes over the next five years. Richie told the social development committee last week that this could not be delivered  and her department was examining a range of options to bring in more finance.

Posted by Jules Birch, Nov 27

Posted in Social housing, Northern Ireland