Tories to restrict foreigners from social homes
The Conservatives have vowed to abolish the provision of social housing for foreign immigrants in England if they win power at the next election.
New tenancies for all foreign nationals and current tenancies for couples where neither individual is a UK, Irish or EU citizen would free up an estimated 228,144 homes for British families, the party argued.
The Conservatives said Labour had “lost control of immigration” and left British people hanging on housing waiting lists.
But Labour said the program was a “unserious, unworkable proposal, copied from Reform, that does nothing to address the housing crisis the Tories themselves created”.
Reform UK and Foreign Nationals in Social Housing
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage said in June he would make it a compulsory for foreign nationals renting homes to locate private lodging within three months or face probable deportation if his party won power.
Tenants who would not qualify under the Tory proposals would be asked to leave their properties within six months.
Any single person who is a non-UK, Irish or EU citizen residing in social housing would lose their social home. This covers parents and non-parents.
Couples, when neither of them is a UK or EU citizen, and they do not have EU settled status, will also lose their claim.
Anyone possessing EU settled status would not be kicked out.
And future tenancies would be offered to UK nationals and EU settled status holders, but not to any new EU citizens who are not settled status holders.
Who Currently Qualifies for Social Housing?
Currently, foreign nationals with settled status, refugee status or certain humanitarian safeguards may qualify for social housing.
As a rule, asylum seekers are not eligible for social housing, unless in rare circumstances such as where there is domestic abuse.
Usually offered by housing associations or local councils, social housing is generally cheaper and more secure than privately rented homes.
The Conservatives, when last in government in 2024, were contemplating ideas to force foreign nationals to live in the UK for 10 years before they could qualify for social housing.
Social Housing Waiting Lists in England
The latest official estimates show there are 1.34 million families on social housing waiting lists as of March 2025.
The bulk of social housing lettings are for single people.
In 2024-25, 89% (233,000 tenants) of lead tenants of new social lettings (the person whose name the social house is rented in) were UK nationals.
During the same time period, 2.3% of new lets went to refugees – 800 refugees were UK nationals, while 3,900 were non UK nationals.
Afghanistan was the most common nationality of refugees in a new social leasing with Ukraine the second most common.
Homelessness Risk and Conservative Policy
‘Homelessness risk’ Conservative shadow work and pensions minister Helen Whately said: “Making Britain your home should be earned by working, paying tax and integrating.It shouldn’t be a free ride on the benefit system. Britain cannot be a piggy bank for the globe.
“Labour has lost control of immigration and lost control of the welfare bill and it is British families who are paying the price and sitting on waiting lists,” he said.
Labour Response to Conservative Social Housing Proposal
Labour’s Housing Secretary Angela Rayner said the Conservative policy would primarily impact refugees and long-term UK residents who have contributed to the country, while also increasing the risk of homelessness for more families. “This unserious, unworkable proposal, copied from Reform, would do nothing to tackle the housing crisis the Tories themselves created.”
Shelter Response to Social Housing Plans
housing and homelessness organization Shelter claimed the eligibility for social housing was already tightly regulated and that applicants were not given accommodation on arrival.Chief executive Sarah Elliott said: “These divisive plans would cruelly kick people out of their homes, including thousands of families and pensioners who have lived in them for decades.“The housing emergency is down to successive governments failing to build enough genuine affordable social homes, not who gets social housing.
Reform UK Criticism of Conservative Plans
Reform UK’s home affairs spokeswoman Zia Yusuf said the Conservatives were trying to imitate his party’s policies but accused them of not going far enough as their planned ban did not cover individuals having EU settled status.“Unbelievably Kemi Badenoch’s new policy is to use British taxpayers’ money to allow tens of thousands of foreign EU nationals to take up British social housing.“Reform UK will make sure that British social housing is for British citizens only.