The Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) has confirmed its commitment to flexible grant rates in delivering the government's Mortgage Rescue scheme, and called for more housing associations to join the pool of those already offering help to struggling homeowners facing the threat of repossession during the economic downturn.

The HCA, which funds and administers Mortgage Rescue on behalf of government, has committed £285 million to the Scheme. Local Authorities are currently processing applications for help through Mortgage Rescue, which will be referred if eligible to the 23 Associations initially asked to offer assistance based on their regional spread and national coverage.

The HCA has now written to its investment partners as part of its plans to widen the pool of associations offering Mortgage Rescue, to be prepared for an increasing number of applications. The letter outlines the Agency's confidence that the sector has the capacity to cope with this increase, and renews its commitment to flexible grant rates in light of a greater number of homeowners for whom renting their home from a housing association will be the best option.

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HCA Chief Executive, Sir Bob Kerslake, said: "These are tough times for everyone and the sector needs to make help more widely available. But with the commitment shown by associations like Orbit and Great Places, for example, I am confident that we have the capacity to cope with any rise in applications for Mortgage Rescue. Despite increasing pressures on finite resources, when it comes to the crunch we will all stretch ourselves to meet the level of need.

"At the HCA we have made it clear that we are committed to higher grant rates if necessary and we will manage our resources to make sure the programme can be delivered according to need. But in return we need more of our Housing Association partners to get involved. It is clear that as a sector our affordable housing responsibility is not restricted to new builds alone, and we will be able to help more people with more associations on board - it's as simple as that."

(CD/KMcA)