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Housing and the Credit Crunch

We met with the CML for a briefing this week, and several interesting points came out about the rescue scheme. First, it took some time for people who might benefit but also local authorities to become aware of it. Certainly my own authority, Sheffield, to begin with denied any knowledge of the scheme or that it should be involved in it. That has taken a bit of time. Secondly, people almost certainly look for alternatives. They see a rescue scheme as a last resort. They would prefer to defer their interest payments for a time and hopefully get back into work. The CML also said that very few people have come out at the end of the rescue scheme, having completed it, but that there are now many more people in the pipeline being processed. That will take a bit of time as well.