Government Urged To Postpone ‘Second Mortgage’ Scheme

The government has been urged to stall controversial benefit changes which came into effect in the new tax year, amid claims they unfairly penalise the most vulnerable in society. On 6 April, a “second mortgage” system replaced the Support for Mortgage Interest (SMI), which helped financially constrained homeowners with their mortgage payments. From this month, it will no longer be paid as a free benefit but, instead, the government is offering to loan people the money, which will have to be repaid later with interest. The move attracted anger from a number of recipients of the benefit who said they had not been properly informed of the move. Read more on the Observer website.

https://www.theguardian.com/money/2018/apr/14/support-second-mortgage-interest-benefit-complaints

Associations Pull 85% Of Planned Supported Housing Developments

The National Housing Federation (NHF) said the dramatic drop in development is due to uncertainty over the introduction of the Local Housing Allowance (LHA) cap. The government was meant to publish a Green Paper on the future of supported housing during the spring but this has not yet materialised. The NHF’s survey of 69 housing associations which together provide a third of supported housing revealed they had previously planned to build 8,800 units of supported housing but now had a total pipeline of just 1,350. Those who provided additional detail in the survey said 71 schemes representing 2,185 homes have been postponed, 19 have been cancelled outright, and 25 existing schemes are threatened with closure. Read more on Inside Housing.