The Government will create measures to support families with
unemployed members by subsidising interest housing loans.
The measure was announced in Angra do Heroísmo on Wednesday by the Regional Secretary for Labour and Social Solidarity, after being heard by the General Policy Commission on a resolution proposed by the Socialist Party concerning this matter.
Ana Paula Marques acknowledges that the proposal is valid at a time when banks are widening credit spreads, particularly in the cases when profit are increased in the course of negotiations, a situation which is aggravated in the case of unemployment.
In this context, package of measures will be developed in order to subsidise interest housing loans for the unemployed as well as for people who have contracted loans, but whose income has decreased due to unemployment.
The programme will comprise different levels of subsidisation in accordance to the beneficiaries’ income, number of dependants and number of unemployed members in the household.
In addition, the programme will be funded by the Social Compensation Fund and the Government will sign contracts with banks for that purpose, as long as the spreads already applied remain unaltered.
As proposed by the Socialist Parliamentary Group, a mechanism to support low income households who already benefit from the leasing pool programme will be created in order to extend payment deadlines hence smoothing instalments.
Ana Paula Marques also said that these measures are fair as well as others already implemented by the Government to provide a response to the global crisis and mitigate its impact among the Azorean population.