Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will take steps to identify how many homeless people who died in the most recent 12 month period for which figures are available had been in receipt of benefits in the 12 months prior to their death; and if she will publish information on the town or city in which each homeless person in receipt of benefits died.

The Department does not centrally collate data on the number of customers who are homeless which would be necessary to inform such an estimate and to do so would create a disproportionate cost to the Department.

We know that there are varied and complex reasons behind a person’s homelessness. That is why it is DWP’s priority to ensure that people experiencing homelessness, or at risk, get the appropriate support they need to stabilise their lives and move into work.

In order to fully evaluate the factors which cause homelessness, we commissioned a feasibility study and rapid evidence review into the causes of homelessness, in partnership with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. The research included a rapid evidence assessment on the causes of homelessness in the UK, a review of models of homelessness developed outside of Government, and a feasibility study that provided advice on the development of quantitative models of homelessness that could be used for policy appraisal. We are currently working on next steps.

The publications can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/causes-of-homelessness-and-rough-sleeping-feasibility-study

We provide a range of support to help people who are homeless or at risk move closer to, or into, work. This includes safeguards to help people make a Universal Credit claim; access to the Jobcentre Plus employment offer with individual tailoring; and priority access to the Work and Health Programme. Work coaches are legally required to offer a voluntary referral to claimants they consider may be homeless or threatened with homelessness to a Local Housing Authority of the claimant’s choice.

We are supporting the manifesto commitment to halve rough sleeping by 2022 and eradicate it altogether by 2027 through the Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Reduction Taskforce, and commitments set out in the recent Rough Sleeping Strategy.