Shapps said that families may have been forced from their homes because of LIBOR fixing which manipulated interest rates.
He told parliament: “All the research into homelessness proves that there are a lot of different causes, of which the Libor rate may have (been) a contributory factor, if indeed it transpires that mortgage rates have been adjusted as a result.”
Barclays has been fined £59.5m for its role in the scandal while the Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds Banking Group are among at least a dozen other banks implicated.
Barclays boss Bob Diamond announced his resignation from the company earlier today in the wake of the scandal.
Shapps himself came under fire last month from shadow housing minister Jack Dromey who accused the minister of “consistent misrepresentation and misuse” of official housing and homelessness data.
A Barclays spokesman told Mortgage Solutions: “Our retail residential mortgages in the UK use the base rate as our tracker mortgages track the base rate.
“Prices for our fixed mortgages are based on market fixed rates such as gilts and our views of the competitive market in which we operate. When period ends they move to a base rate tracker.”
