Households across London are at serious risk of losing their home, a leading charity has warned, with England's top 15 "eviction hotspots" all London boroughs.
In the 12 months to September 2012, 198,470 households in England were threatened with repossession or eviction, Shelter said, with the majority (71%) being made on behalf of landlords. This equates to one in every 115 households at risk of becoming homeless, or cities the size of Liverpool or Bristol being evicted or repossessed.
High and rising rents, the "cripplingly high" costs of getting on the housing ladder and "the lowest peacetime building figures since the 1920s" have all combined with a prolonged economic downturn to increase the pressure on families. This has resulted in many falling behind with their rent or mortgages, Shelter said.
The charity cited Ministry of Justice figures on mortgage and landlord possession claims made between October 2011 and September 2012. A possession claim is the first step in the process of repossession by a lender or eviction by a landlord. Not all claims will lead to people losing their home, however. The figures show around a quarter of possession claims result in eviction.
Campbell Robb, chief executive of Shelter, said: "It's truly shocking how many people in this country are living with the threat of becoming homeless. In some areas, the risk of being evicted or repossessed is so high that one home in every street could be affected.
"This report is a stark reminder that homelessness can happen to anyone – all it takes is one event such as a redundancy or relationship breakup, and whole families are at risk of losing their home.
In the top 15 "eviction hotspots" – all London boroughs – the risk of repossession or eviction is double the national average, with 1 in every 62 homes at risk. Barking and Dagenham has more than three times as many possession claims than the rest of the country, given to one in every 37 homes.
Outside London, the regions with the highest eviction risk are the north-west with one in 112 homes at risk, and the west Midlands with 1 in 114 homes at risk. Wolverhampton, Slough and Manchester were the top hotspots outside the capital.
Paula Higgins of the HomeOwners Alliance lobby group, said: "We welcome Shelter's report exposing the tragedy of families at risk of losing their homes – whether owned or rented – in this country. We want to see as many families kept in their own homes and out of temporary accommodation as possible.
"But we fear the slight downward trend in the number of mortgage repossessions is a passing phase. The Financial Services Authority estimate more than 40% of existing mortgages are interest-only, creeping to more than 50% of mortgages in London and the south, and it is these interest-only mortgages which are coming to an end, creating a ticking time-bomb for homeowners who may not be able to make higher repayments under other mortgage schemes."
While mortgage repossessions are on a downward trend (as a result of low interest rates, meaning mortgages remain affordable for the majority of existing homeowners), landlord possession actions and actual repossessions are on the increase.
The number of possession claims issued by landlords rose by 4% in the year to September 2012. There was also a 20% increase in the number of possession claims issued by landlords using the "accelerated procedure?, used almost exclusively in the private rented sector.
The Shelter report is published just a day after a BBC Panorama investigation found that someone in Britain is threatened with losing their home every two and a half minutes.
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