HA WRITES OFF MORE HOME LOANS

13/07/2012

A further 9 families will have their home loan accounts written off by the Housing Authority this week.

The home loan write off is part of the social housing policy that was announced in the first quarter of 2011 to assist existing home owners who are no longer able to meet their mortgage repayments.

Acting chief executive officer Fantasha Lockington said that, “since the introduction, a total of 170 Fijian families have benefited from the social housing policy nationwide by completely writing off their home loan accounts and giving the mostly retired home owners peace of mind”.

The social housing policy is designed to assist those Housing Authority home owners who are at risk of losing their houses due to non-payment of their home loan accounts because of advanced age, disability or genuine financial difficulty.

“Under the social housing policy, those homeowners who have paid one and a half the principal loan amount, are unemployed because of advanced age or disability and can prove genuine financial difficulty qualify for assistance”.

“The policy is not a hand out but a program that is designed to assist low and middle income Fijians own their houses sooner rather than later”, Lockington continued.

Once the home owners have received assistance under the social housing policy, a caveat is placed on the property to prevent the home owner or beneficiaries from selling it within 10 years.

She added that, “further to this, the home owner will not be allowed to take further loans from Housing Authority within this time frame. The caveat is in place to ensure that the policy assistance is not abused and that is goes to those that genuinely deserve it”.

The assistance under the social housing policy is in line with the announcement by the Prime Minister in January, 2011 to ensure that all Fijians have access to decent and affordable housing by the year 2020.

Since 2011 $2.5 million has been given to the Housing Authority from the Fijian Government to enable the social housing policy to benefit more Fijian families by the second half of 2012.

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HA writes off more home loans

30/06/2011

A total of 17 more families will have their home loan accounts completely written off this week.

The home loan write off is part of the Housing Authority’s social housing policy announced in January to assist existing home owners who face genuine financial difficulty.

Since the policy announcement, 64 families had their home loan accounts written off with a total value of just over a $1m. This ensured that home owners who meet the criteria for write off were provided assistance.

HA chief executive officer, Alipate Naiorosui said, “the social housing policy being implemented targets our customers who have either paid more than twice the principal loan amount, are retired or can prove genuine financial difficulty”.

Peni and Losalini Atama who are both retired and run a small canteen from home are today proud home owners after they received a letter from the authority advising them that the home loan account for their tw0-bedroom double storey terrace home has been written off.

“This is truly a blessing for my family. We had just under $10,000 remaining on our account and we are very grateful for the assistance provided by Government through the Housing Authority.”, said Mr Atama at his residence.

Mr Tamani, a retired Public Works Department employee purchased the home in 1988 and has been living in the home with his wife for the past 23 years.

The social housing policy is not a hand out by Government but a program to ensure that those most likely to lose their homes due to disability, sickness or retirement are provided assistance through the strong criteria in place to assist those citizens who qualify.

(For more information, please contact Dwain Qalovaki Public Relations & Communications Office for Housing Authority on 999 3915 or dqalovaki@housing.com.fj <mailto:dqalovaki@housing.com.fj> )