Eviction Britain? How many households are facing eviction?

This morning's Guardian reported that 215,000 households were at risk of eviction, while the Independent ran a story claiming that "more than half a million face having their homes repossessed."

Both these stories reference figures collected by the homelessness charity Shelter: the Guardian's 215,000 households is taken directly from its report, while the Independent has multiplied this by the average household size (2.4 people) to estimate that over half a million people are affected (although we don't how accurate this estimate is, as we don't know if the households affected are typical in their composition).

Shelter took its figures from the Ministry of Justice, and they refer to possession claims issued by landlords or banks against tenants or those behind on mortgage payments.

However a possession claim is just the first step of the legal process that could lead to eviction. The Ministry of Justice notes in its statistical release that between 19% and 24% of landlord possession claims and between 18% and 28% of mortgage possession  claims have resulted in an actual eviction in recent years.

Equally, these figures only count those cases where legal proceedings have been started, so won't include households that may be being pressured to move out or struggling with paying for their housing through other means.