HOMEOWNERS living in condemned houses will face years more misery because a council scheme has not got enough cash.

They are being forced to live in fear and isolation as a project designed to breathe new life into their area grinds to a crawl.

Sefton council wants to buy up all the houses in Bootle’s Klondyke estate, raze the area and build new homes under the government’s Housing Market Renewal Initiative. But Whitehall has only given it £5.5m – enough cash to buy fewer than half the privately-owned homes over the next two years. The rest could have to wait until 2015.

The estate was first declared an HMRI area in 2003. Some residents have moved to new homes elsewhere, while those who remain said HMRI had turned their neighbourhood into a magnet for crime and disorder.

Graffiti has been daubed across some houses and arsonists have torched others.

Vacant homes have been stripped of metal and thieves have stolen lead from roofs.

Councillors will this week consider a shortlist of roads to prioritise for the next round of house-buying. They have enough cash to buy 40 houses in 2009-10 and 66 in 2010-11.