42,728 evictions in 2015 are ‘clear proof of the devastating impact that welfare cuts and the chronic shortage of affordable homes are having on hundreds of renters every day,’ Campbell Robb, chief executive of the housing charity Shelter, said yesterday.
He was speaking as figures released by the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) showed a surge of evictions in 2015, the equivalent of 250 a day. The MoJ data show the number of evictions increased by 53% over the five years from 2010.
The surge in families and individuals being evicted represents the highest number on record since the MoJ started collecting data on home repossessions in 2000. London’s Newham borough had the highest rate of repossession in the country. Of the 20 local authorities with the highest rates of repossession, sixteen were boroughs in London.
19,093 evictions in England were carried out by social landlords, including housing associations. 5,919 evictions were performed by private landlords. Campbell Robb, chief executive of the housing charity Shelter, added: ‘Successive governments have failed to build enough genuinely affordable homes, and short-sighted welfare cuts are only making things tougher.
‘The only way to fix this crisis for good is for the government to commit to building homes that people on ordinary incomes can actually afford to rent or buy.’ Last month hundreds took to the streets in protest over the government’s controversial Housing Bill.
If passed, the legislation would introduce a ‘pay-to-stay’ scheme, a system that would force families living in social housing in London and earning £30,000-£40,000 to pay rents nearly as high as those in the private sector. Rents have risen rapidly in recent years.
Figures from the Association of Residential Letting Agents (ARLA) show that UK tenants spent an average of 22% of their wages on rent last year. The shadow housing minister, John Healey, said the figures ‘expose just how difficult life has become for millions of renters after Conservative ministers’ five years of failure on housing’.
He said the figures could be ‘just the tip of the iceberg’, as some tenants could be losing their homes without going through the court process.
• EARLY Thursday morning a large group of police escorting over a dozen bailiffs, arrived at the council estate on Benhill road, Camberwell south London to make a second, surprise attempt to evict Aminata Sellu and her three children.
They were taken from their home, all there belongings were transferred to a van (in background of picture), and while her children went to school, Aminata was taken to the local council who refused to provide her with accommodation.
As a result, while her elder daughter looked after her three young children, she spent the night in the police cells.
She is now homeless and desperate for accommodation. This is now the experience of more and more Londoners under the Cameron government.