Fewer behind on payments

Press, 3 September 1984, Page 12

Fewer behind on payments

PA Wellington A stronger line with defaulters has seen a fall by a third in the last two years in the number of people behind in their mortgage repayments to the Maori Affairs Department. Figures given by the. department show that the proportion of arrears in the total amount outstanding on the department’s housing loan accounts at March 31, 1982, was 1.01 per cent. At July 31, 1984, the figure was 0.86 per cent. . The Treasury’s concern about the number and the level of overdue instalments was among the reasons the Cabinet committee on expenditure sought a State

Services Commission review of the department’s housing function in 1982. The author of the review paper, Mr Peter Cornwall, said then that an analysis of some accounts overdue showed that, in many cases, there was no valid reason for being behind in repayments.

The Maori Trustee, Mr Bruce Robinson, said this week that there were two or three points of view over arrears, one of which was the importance of keeping families in houses. “What we have endeavoured to do is be a little firmer in our collection, but keeping the objective of keeping people in houses.”