Toxic Tories don't give a damn if your home is repossessed.

 

The where there's muck there's money adage is deeply ingrained in their mindset.

Recent news that Northumberland is well rooted in the top ten Council areas with the highest rate of repossessions nationally doesn't come as a surprise to many.

 The results released by housing action groups and charities only ran to the five years from 2017 up to 2022 and those five years have had a toxic group of ultra right wing Tories running the County Council. 

 Those same interest groups expect the rise of repossessions to be massive during the current administrative period with the Toxic Tories well publicised failure to control raging inflation and the Bank of England's attempts to offset the Government's slack grasp on economics by concentrating on raising interest rates and borrowing costs. A policy which is compounding the problems with families losing their homes after previously losing their cars and other possessions in attempts to steer their way out of debt.

 National press reports in recent days show repossessions are set to soar further after mortgage rates nudged 6% yesterday.  

The average two-year fixed-rate deal rose from 5.92% to 5.98% yesterday, with five-year deals up from 5.56% to 5.62%, Moneyfacts data shows. 

Repayments were already taking up the biggest slice of new borrowers’ income in 15 years, at 20.4%, according to banking trade body UK Finance – and rates have continued to rocket since then. Repossessions surged by 50% in the latest quarter, and housing charities worry that we could be in a spiral of repossessions.

Those same charities are showing great concern that social housing is not available to assist those caught in the new poverty trap and that housing companies and councils are labeling a repossession of your home by your lender as making your family intentionally homeless and washing their hands of your problems when you and your family are suffering one of the worst periods in your life.

In Northumberland the Council has not built any new family homes to raise their dwindling stock since 2017 and are planning very few new family homes in the future.

The Council has also recently reported that it is home to 2000 void properties which have sat empty for more than a year.

When coupled with the fact that Northumberland does not have an early warning system set up with charities to bring those close to repossession in to assess their need. Many local housing authorities have and use it to keep numerous families in their own homes instead of them becoming homeless. They do it through slowing progression with banks and building societies by agreement or by using housing benefit to advantage those able to claim to pay it directly to their mortgage provider.

With not enough buy to rent investors waiting in the wings any longer to carpetbag peoples homes cheaply Northumberland County Councils Toxic Tories need to come up with something shortly with the resolution foundation predicting that mortgagees may have to find an additional £53 per week over the next two years to cover off the Bank of Englands enforced interest rate rises, house prices falling as a result and with a similarly toxic government in charge who are hell bent on wage capping it doesn't bode well for those in the new poverty trap.