Vince Cable has announced new plans to make housing more affordable - and limit repossessions.
A new plan to help "rescue" the UK housing market has been launched by the Liberal Democrats.
Unveiling the proposals today, Lib Dem treasury spokesman Vince Cable said that struggling householders who were currently having difficulties in making their mortgage repayments would directly benefit from the plan being implemented. Under its terms, councils would be empowered to take over land-banks and empty properties, and then convert them in to low-cost housing.
In turn, this would also increase housing stock - lessening demand and bringing down house prices in the long term. The Lib Dems also want homeowners in mortgage difficulties to be allowed to sell off part of their property's equity to their housing association, rather than face immediate repossession.
Current economic conditions have seen many homeowners faced with rising prices and difficulties in securing credit. Recent government figures have shown that repossession orders have increased by 24 percent over 2007.
Mr Cable added that the proposals would also "save taxpayers the cost of re-housing the homeless without going down the disastrous route of giving open-ended guarantees for new mortgage lending".
He added: "The government seems obsessed with fighting a losing battle to artificially prop up the housing market, rather than finding ways to deal with its worst effects."
