Study reveals annual £28m cost of evicting tenants from social housing

Abstract

Evicting tenants from social homes cost the public purse at least £28 million in a single year, according to new research published by Shelter Scotland.

The housing campaign group commissioned academics from the University of Liverpool to establish the true cost of evictions by councils and housing associations. The study goes beyond the direct costs like legal fees, to get a more accurate cost of the 1,866 evictions by councils and housing associations in 2019-2020.

The charity said that £28m is a “conservative estimate” but a significant proportion of this comes from the cost of providing homelessness services for those households who went on to present as homeless.

This research supports similar research undertaken in Australia.