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

THE PENDULUM has swung a little in favour of stock transfer in Wales after tenants in Newport voted overwhelmingly in favour of a switch to Newport City Homes. In a ballot result announced on Friday, 84% of tenants voted in favour of transfer and 16% against. The turnout was 63%.

Newport joins Bridgend, Monmouth, Rhondda Cynon Taf, and Torfaen on the list of Welsh authorities where tenants have voted yes while tenants in Swansea and Wrexham have voted no. Another five authorities will be balloting their tenants in the next 12 months. In Conwy the campaign has hotted up after local MP Betty Williams came out against the plan and voting continues until next week. Another six councils - most recently Flintshire - have voted to retain their stock without going to a ballot. 

A survey by Inside Housing in August revealed that Welsh councils will have to find almost £900m over the next five years to meet the Welsh Housing Quality Standard by 2012. Wrexham and Swansea have shortfalls of almost £200m each. In June the new Welsh government ruled out giving authorities any alternative to transfer.

An independent commission set up by Newport Council came out in favour of transfer after concluding that the authority faced a £158m gap between what would be needed to improve its 9,500 homes and what could be raised through traditional funding mechanisms.

Posted by Jules Birch, Nov 19

Posted in Stock transfer, Wales