Credit is due

The government has placed ‘fairness’ at the heart of its pre-election sales pitch, and in last week’s Budget the chancellor delivered one or two policies which — for housing associations and their tenants — may just about live up to that ideal.

Alistair Darling’s plan to force banks to offer accounts to all British adults falls into this category and will, with the right support, help bring the poorest into the financial mainstream. It’s something many of us take for granted, but around 1.75 million adults in the UK — mostly from low income households — still don’t have a bank account and end up paying the price through higher utility bills, uncompetitive loan deals and for goods which can be bought cheaper online.

Bank accounts for all is a step in the right direction towards ending financial exclusion, but providing affordable credit is perhaps the biggest hurdle to overcome. It’s with this in mind that the National Housing Federation aims to establish a not-for profit financial services provider — My Home Finance — later this year.

Mr Darling said in the ‘red book’ that he ‘notes with interest’ the federation’s affordable credit plan — quite an endorsement on Budget day. Elsewhere, the decision to double the stamp duty threshold for first time buyers to £250,000 is welcome, but the real problem remains a lack of competitive mortgage deals.

The nationalised banks continue to unjustly treat many shared ownership properties as sub-prime and are refusing to lend to the large number of people wanting to buy them, something which needs to be addressed sooner rather than later.

And we’re still none the wiser on what will happen to the housing budget after next year — but with an election just weeks away we weren’t expecting any big announcements on that score. Fair enough, Darling.

David Orr is chief executive of the National Housing Federation