Support for homeowners dwindles

GOVERNMENT support for homeowners has dwindled since the early Nineties, leading housing bodies have claimed.

Financial help in the form of welfare benefits, tax relief, grants and subsidiaries has fallen by 90% to £933m since 1990.

In contrast, support for private and social sector tenants has soared over the same period, a joint report by the Council of Mortgage Lenders and the Chartered Institute of Housing claimed.

According to the UK Housing Review 2005/05 report, subsidies for social renters rose from £6.3bn to £10.8bn over the period, with the private rented sector benefitting from a 113% increase to £3.2bn.

The report said homeowners now receive just 6% of he Government's total spend towards help with housing costs.

It questioned the Government‘s decision to exclude homeowners from the new local housing allowance policy as half of the UK's poorest are in the owner-occupied sector.

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.

'The lending industry works hard to make home ownership as sustainable as possible, but there is no question that poor homeowners are disadvantaged compared with tenants at similar levels of income.'

CIH director John Perry added homeowners are 'overlooked' in housing policy. 'This description of the dramatic nature of the reduction in support should give policymakers pause for thought.'