Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if she will commission independent research to estimate the (a) number of tenants in rent arrears as a result of the covid-19 outbreak and (b) total sum of those arrears.

The Department has commissioned survey research to understand the financial resilience of privately and socially renting households throughout the pandemic. The Household Resilience Study is a follow up study to the 2019-20 English Housing Survey. It examines how household and housing circumstances have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Household Resilience Study Wave 3 results are based on surveys conducted between April-May 2021.

This data is used, alongside regular engagement with stakeholders, to monitor the impact of COVID-19 on tenants and the efficacy of the significant support measures put in place to support tenants and sustain tenancies.