350,000 renters put at risk of eviction, Shelter says

Shelter said the lack of affordable homes and welfare cuts were to blame

Recent studies claim that by 2025 only 40 per cent of Londoners will own a home (PA)

Thousands of renters in England have been put at risk of losing their home, according to a new report.

More than 148,000 households, the equivalent of 350,000 people, were put at risk of eviction in the 12 months to April, according to new figures by Shelter.

The charity compared the total number of possession claims issued during that period – the first stage in a court process which can end with the loss of a home – with the number of renting households in each location.

(Shelter)

It found that people living in the London boroughs of Enfield, Barking and Dagenham faced the greatest risk with one in 23 rented homes under threat of eviction. This equates to 5,485 people in Enfield and 3,904 renters in Barking and Dagenham.

But the issue stretches beyond London, with areas such as Luton, Thurrock in Essex and Peterborough also making it into the top 20 places most at risk.

Shelter said the lack of affordable homes and welfare cuts were to blame.

Nadeem Khan, helpline adviser for Shelter said the charity hears from people who are struggling to keep up with their rent on a daily basis.

“Many are in total desperation after the court papers land on their doormat and the threat of being evicted becomes very real,” Mr Khan said.

Over 9,800 people facing eviction have called the Shelter helpline for advice and 500,000 have visited their website’s eviction advice pages.

A spokesperson for the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) said the figures quoted by Shelter are based on landlord claims and many of these will not lead to evictions.

“We’ve introduced measures to ensure tenants get a fair deal, are aware of their rights and are protected from retaliatory evictions,” a spokesperson for the DCLG told the Independent.

“We’ve also doubled the housing budget and are investing £8 billion to build 400,000 affordable homes, including quality homes for rent,” the DCLG said.

The number of renters evicted from their homes reached a record high of 42,728 in 2015 in England and Wales, the highest number since records began in 2000.

Meanwhile, the number of evictions has gone up by 53 per cent from 2010, the equivalent of more than 250 evictions a day, according to the Ministry of Justice from February this year.

“These figures are yet another reminder of our drastic shortage of affordable homes, which is leaving millions of people trapped in expensive and unstable private renting,” Campbell Robb, chief executive of Shelter, told The Independent.

“Families across the country are becoming increasingly priced out, and spending so much money on rent that it’s virtually impossible to save anything towards a home of their own,“ he added.

Nearly 5,700 private renting households in England - the equivalent of 14,235 people - have been evicted by bailiffs in the first three months of 2016, according to the most recent figure from the Ministry of Justice.

Recent studies claim that London will become a city of renters by 2025, when only 40 per cent of Londoners will own a home.