The Conservative Party has announced plans to ban foreign nationals from social housing in the UK, a move that would affect nearly 300,000 homes. Under the proposed policy, single tenants without UK, Irish, or EU citizenship would lose their properties, as would couples where both partners are ineligible. Those affected would be given six months to vacate.
Policy Details and Impact
The announcement comes as data shows that nearly 300,000 socially rented homes have a foreign national as the lead tenant. The Conservatives estimate that 228,144 council homes would be emptied, with these properties then offered to British citizens on the social housing waiting list. For future tenancies, only UK nationals would be eligible, meaning EU citizens would also be excluded.
The party argues this would help reduce the UK's benefits bill, a key focus for Kemi Badenoch, who has previously called for significant cuts to welfare spending to fund other priorities such as defence.
Political Reactions
Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary Helen Whately said: "Making Britain your home should be earned by working, paying tax and integrating. It should not come with a free ride on the benefits system. Britain cannot be a cash machine for the world. Labour has lost control of immigration and lost control of the welfare bill, and it is British families picking up the bill and sitting on waiting lists. The next Conservative government will make foreign nationals ineligible for social housing. Nearly 230,000 homes could go to British families."
Reform UK, which announced a similar policy earlier this year, criticized the Conservative proposal. Shadow Home Secretary Zia Yusuf said: "The Tories are trying to copy Reform UK policy, but they still end up betraying their instincts to prioritise foreigners. Incredibly, Kemi Badenoch’s new policy is to allow tens of thousands of foreign nationals from the EU to occupy British social housing funded by British taxpayers. Reform UK will ensure British social housing is strictly for British citizens. The Tories say they will continue to give it to foreign nationals while our own people and veterans are left to fend themselves."
The Labour Party dismissed the proposal as "unworkable," with a spokesman saying: "This is an unserious, unworkable proposal, copied from Reform, that does nothing to tackle the housing crisis the Tories themselves created. People without Indefinite Leave to Remain are already ineligible for social housing, so this policy would primarily affect refugees and long-term UK residents who have contributed to this country but are not British citizens, including NHS staff. It would also leave more families at risk of homelessness, while driving up the use of temporary accommodation at the taxpayers' expense. No amount of headline-chasing, or following Reform to the extremes, can hide the damage the Tories did to our housing system. The least they could do is acknowledge their failures and apologise."
