Loan News Overlooked Homeowners In Need Of Support

Written by Editorial Team

29 October 2004

Support for homeowners from the Government has been progressively dwindling since the early Nineties.

This is according to a joint-study published by the Council of Mortgage Lenders and the Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH), which found that homeowners have received a cut in benefit and welfare.

This directly affects those already suffering from debt or credit problems. Since 1990 they have been subjected to a 90 per cent cut in benefits, with grants and subsidies dropping from £9.3 billion to £933 million.

The CML deputy director general, Peter Williams said: “We have known for years that half the poor are homeowners. Yet the framework of assistance directly discriminates against them.”

Similarly, CIH director John Perry believes homeowners are being “overlooked”.

He explained: “With home-ownership now accounting for more than two-thirds of the households in the UK, it is inevitable that poverty problems can be experienced among those who own as well as among those who rent.”

The disparity between the benefits available to those who rent and those who own their own home has grown massively in the past ten years.

In contrast, renters have received a 113 per cent increase in benefits, with the amount available rising from £6.3 billion to £10.8 billion.

Mr Perry called for the Government to take action, saying: “This description of the dramatic nature of the reduction in support should give policymakers pause for thought.”

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