8,300 people at risk of home repossession every week
05/06/2015
More than 8,000 people in the UK were put at risk of losing their house each week in the first three months of this year, according to housing charity Shelter.
The charity looked at Ministry of Justice figures for possession claims by mortgage lenders and landlords to see how many people had been threatened with repossession.
The charity also picked up on certain “home threat hotspots”, where homes were much more likely to be repossessed All 14 hotspot arrears were in London, especially Newham, Barking and Dagenham, were one in every 38 homes was subject to a possession claim, while in the boroughs of Haringey, Lewisham and Hackney, the figure was one in 45. In the capital, housing prices are much higher than the rest of the country, and the pressure for new houses to hit the market is the greatest.
Outside of London, the places that featured highest on the list were Slough, where one in 58 homes are at risk, Peterborough (one in 61), Manchester (one in 66) and Rochdale (one in 68) also made it into the top 20.
Shelters director of services, Alison Mohammed, said:
“These staggering figures show just how many people are fighting to keep their families in their homes, after dealing with the double blow of welfare cuts and a drastic shortage of affordable housing.
“We’re doing everything we can to give advice and support to anyone who faces losing the roof over their heads, but the government must also play its part by putting a stop to further cuts to the safety net which helps ordinary families stay in their homes.”
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