John Healey and his controversial comment on repossession

John Healey, the UK government's Housing Minister, has today courted controversy with a suggestion that repossession is the "best thing" for some struggling homeowners. This comes on the day when repossessions in the UK were reported to have hit a 14 year high during 2009 and are set to get worse in 2010. While ultimately, for those in deep financial trouble there may well be few options other than repossession, to step forward in his most difficult of economic times to suggest it may be the "best thing" is foolhardy and possibly insensitive to say the least.

The figures, which we covered in one of our earlier articles, show that 46,000 homes were repossessed in 2009 which equates to around 126 homes each and every day of the year. This figure is set to top 50,000 for 2010 and there are still hundreds of thousands of homeowners dropping further and further behind on their mortgage payments. This comes despite a number of government initiatives to try and assist the mortgage market, many of which have fallen by the wayside and attracted little attention or little in the way of finance.

At a time when the government and other political parties are attempting to "cosy up to voters" perhaps John Healey's comments were ill timed to say the least?