Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the 2 July 2019 research, Cover the cost: restoring local housing allowance rates to prevent homelessness, commissioned by Crisis on 2 July 2019, if her Department will undertake a cost-benefit analysis to assess the potential effect of restoring local housing allowance rates to the level of the cheapest third of local rents.

We estimate the cost would be about £800 million in 2020/21, excluding any changes in behaviour by tenants and landlords.