Spike in eviction orders in Sheffield seen this summer amid 'crisis' in rental market

Housing charity Shelter has accused the Government of ignoring an unfolding “crisis” in the rental market, saying Chancellor Jeremy Hunt's autumn statement revealed little help for private tenants while prices are rising rapidly.

It comes as Ministry of Justice data shows 215 claims to repossess properties in Sheffield were lodged by mortgage lenders and landlords between July and September. This is up by 143 claims compared to the same period in 2021.

Despite this rise, there were still fewer bids to remove people from their homes than in 2019, before the coronavirus pandemic – 266 claims were lodged between July and September that year. Meanwhile, in August, The Star reported how more than 800 Sheffield Council tenants were facing eviction for not paying rent, and the local authority was named as evicting the most tenants in the country.

The figures also show that in the latest period, tenants were evicted from their homes in Sheffield on 49 occasions – putting them among the 5,400 tenant evictions across England and Wales – while there were eight bailiff-enforced home repossessions.

Polly Neate, Shelter chief executive, warned more renters could fall behind on payments and lose their homes without better support. Reacting to Mr Hunt's autumn statement, she said: “There is a housing hole in this budget – housing benefit remains frozen at 2020 levels when private rents have been rising at record rates.

“Increasing Universal Credit will really help people struggling to pay their food and fuel bills, but crucially it doesn’t cover rents which are most people’s biggest outgoing.

“Unless housing benefit is increased, the shortfall with real rents will only grow – swallowing up other benefit increases. The boost to benefits will be built on quicksand.”

Ms Neate said a planned increase to the benefit cap is a “glimmer of hope” for vulnerable families, but added: “The Government’s refusal to unfreeze housing benefit ignores the rental crisis that is unfolding, and means that homelessness will continue to rise this winter.”

The criticism was echoed by homelessness charity Crisis, with chief executive Matt Downie adding: “Abandoning renters during a recession and cost-of-living crisis is unforgiveable.”

Meanwhile, Mr Hunt said he would “monitor carefully” the situation around mortgage repossessions, after Labour former shadow chancellor John McDonnell urged the Chancellor to come back with a “package of measures” to get people through the housing crisis.

“I’ve already had a number of discussions internally in the Treasury and as necessary, I’ll come back to this House with further measures,” Mr Hunt said.

It was also announced that Universal Credit claimants struggling with rising interest costs on their mortgages would be able to access a government loan after three months, rather than nine, in a bid to protect the lowest earners from losing their homes. It comes as people battle to survive the cost of living crisis which has exacerbated the struggle many were already facing due to Covid-19 and more than a decade of austerity.