885,000 ‘take loans to pay for housing’

The housing charity said that one in 50 people (two per cent) it surveyed said they had done this, which would equate to nearly 885,000 adults if the findings were projected across Britain.

Shelter said it dealt with just under 9,000 calls to its helpline from people struggling to pay their rent or mortgage last year, rocketing by one third (32 per cent) on the total for 2012.

Its findings about the extent to which people are using loans to plug gaps in their finances came from a survey of almost 3,700 people in November who pay rent or a mortgage.

Nearly one fifth (19 per cent) of those surveyed said they had borrowed in some way to cover their rent or mortgage in the last 12 months, including dipping into an unauthorised overdraft, taking out a loan such as a payday loan, ramping up credit card debt or turning to family or friends for cash.

Shelter fears many people are struggling in silence with the cost of keeping a roof over their head. Two-fifths (40 per cent) of those surveyed said they would not admit to friends or relatives if they were struggling with housing costs and one quarter (25 per cent) would feel too “ashamed” to get help.

Liz Clare, a helpline adviser for Shelter, said: “Anyone at the school gates, in the supermarket or at work could be silently struggling.”