Home repossessions will continue

THE threat of hard-pressed families losing their homes will continue for two more years, housing minister John Healey warned last night as he unveiled the first wave of council house building for two decades.

Millions of pounds in public money is to be ploughed into the new homes.

But there will be just a handful in the Westcountry despite there being 60,000 people on waiting lists, which are likely to swell further as more people lose the battle against repossession.

The latest figures show there were 715 mortgage repossession claims issued in Devon, Cornwall and Somerset in the three months to June this year.

It shows a drop of about 30 per cent on the same time last year, which the Government claimed was down to increased help for those at risk of losing their home.


But the flagship Mortgage Rescue Scheme – which sees private homes sold to a housing association and rented back – has been widely criticised for failing to help a single household in the Westcountry.

Last month, the WMN revealed one family in Camborne, Cornwall, were left worse off after applying, being accepted and later rejected after running up thousands of pounds in mortgage arrears.

Mr Healey claimed efforts to help those struggling with mortgage payments in the recession were working.

But in a bleak warning about the economic prospects of millions of homeowners, he added: "Repossessions are still higher than before the recession and the pressures will continue. The risk of people losing their homes will continue at least for a couple of years, but recently repossessions have gone down as a result of the action we've taken."Today, he will announce a new programme of council house building, the first of its kind for 20 years. The Department for Communities claims the 2,000 homes nationwide will create 5,000 jobs in the construction industry.

"This is using the power of Government to act to build the homes that people need to keep the construction jobs that the economy wants and to help the economy through the recession," said Mr Healey.

However, in the Westcountry, there are pledges of just 38 new homes in East Devon and Exeter for 115 people, at a cost of £2.6 million.

No other local authority in Devon, or any in Cornwall and Somerset, applied for the money available in the first round of new council house building.

And in another blow to the Government's announcement, the Audit Commission will today claim councils focus too much on building new homes and should pay more attention to improving existing housing in their area.

The public spending watchdog said one in three councils struggled to understand the housing market they had on their own doorsteps. Councils felt pressured into focusing on building brand new housing, with 94 per cent prioritising new and affordable housing targets in their local area agreements.

But less than one in three councils had prioritised targets relating to their existing housing stock, such as bringing empty properties back into use, despite the financial savings, environmental improvements and social benefits of doing so.


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