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Peter Black and South Wales West Liberal DemocratsRepresenting Aberavon, Bridgend, Gower, Neath, Ogmore, Port Talbot, and Swansea |
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Assembly Member calls on Welsh Government to take action on repossession crisis
August 13, 2010 12:00 AM
The Welsh Liberal Democrat Housing Spokesperson, Peter Black has called on the Welsh Government to review the rules and the funding of their flagship mortgage rescue scheme following the news that parts of Wales have the highest number of mortgage repossession claims in Britain.
Fewer people in the UK are now expected to lose their homes this year after a decline in repossessions in June, but Rhondda Cynon Taf, Caerphilly, Blaenau Gwent and Merthyr Tydfil top the league table of mortgage repossessions, highlighting that this is still a major problem in Wales.
The £9 million mortgage rescue scheme put in place by the Welsh Government has exhausted its funding less than halfway through the financial year and although an additional £2 million has been found for it, the new rules that have been put in place mean that very few people will now be eligible for help.
New criteria states that the applicant (or a member of the household) must have a disability and that their home must have been adapted before they can benefit from it. Yet, information from the Welsh Government reveals that only 16 of the 336 approved applications since 2008 would have met the new criteria leaving open the prospect of a huge underspend on the new money whilst families have their homes repossessed.
"This extra money has been an empty gesture from the Welsh Government," said Mr. Black. "People with adapted homes may need support, but so do many other struggling families. The new narrow eligibility criteria means that money will be sat unused when families are facing homelessness."
"There needs to be a fundamental rethink by the Welsh Government as to how this scheme operates and how much money is put into it. It is unacceptable for this £2 million to remain unspent whilst families are losing their homes and it is wrong that such an important scheme has to be frozen so early in the financial year when there is such need for it."
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