Subsidy planned to protect many borrowers’ homes
The government is planning to offer a subsidy for borrowers with housing loans secured against their main residence if it concerns individuals and entrepreneurs hurt by the coronavirus crisis, as an alternative to the main residence protection status which currently applies.
The proposal, which is being negotiated with the country’s creditors, is aiming for a political agreement that will allow for the protection of homes not only for debtors with expired dues for mortgages, but also for those who had been servicing their debts until the pandemic started affecting them.
Sources say the issue has already been discussed with the creditors at staff level this week in response to the creditors’ insistence on the abolition of main residence protection. According to the same information, the government has not yet withdrawn its proposal for extending the protection under the existing framework, albeit with a reduction of the protection scope to those with expired dues from mortgages up until the end of 2018.
Kathimerini understands the subsidy solution will concern households with workers whose labor contracts have been suspended and entrepreneurs with a mortgage who are active in economic domains the government deems have been harmed by the crisis.
The program’s resources will stem from state collateral, which would require the approval of the European Union’s competition authorities, and the subsidy will cover all installments due in 2020.
