As an idea I suggest a Debt Reduction Incentive (DRI) proposal whereby governments will contribute one dollar towards someone's mortgage for every one dollar the mortgagee pays down the loan themselves (with a cap when the loan gets back to 50% of the value of the property). This way people have an incentive to pay down their debt (and quicker with an end of offer date attached) and help take the stress off individuals who were allowed to borrow too much by the banks. The Australian Government pays a co-contribution of up to $1000 in superannuation (retirement savings) dollar for dollar for low income earners. If you don't put in $1000 yourself you don't get the $1000 bonus. It's done to encourage people to save for their retirement. The above idea would be to encourage people to pay down debt. To stop people drawing down the balance of the loan again the bank (who provides the mortgage) should lower the available draw down balance by the amount that the government has contributed.