Tories propose ending social housing rights for non-EU foreign nationals

The Conservative Party has said it would end social housing tenancies for non-EU foreign nationals in a policy announcement mirroring one recently made by Reform UK.

According to its own calculations, the party claims that nearly 230,000 existing social tenancies would become invalid if their plan was introduced, with households given six months to relocate.

The party says the proposals would benefit British nationals currently on the housing waiting list, but organisations representing the social housing sector have criticised it as “divisive” and warned of “practical, legal, and operational challenges”.

Under current rules, a large number of foreign nationals are already excluded from social housing. This includes temporary residents on visas, undocumented migrants, asylum seekers and anyone else with no recourse to public funds.

Only foreign nationals with indefinite leave to remain, or certain people with refugee status, can access social housing. 

To qualify for indefinite leave to remain, an individual must live and work in the UK lawfully for five continuous years, pass culture and language tests, and meet salary and job requirements.

After this, they can apply for social housing, but will still be subject to the same eligibility criteria, local connections tests and prioritisation policies as others on the waiting list.

The English Housing Survey 2024/25 estimated that 12% of social renters were foreign nationals, although this includes people with EU settled status.

Helen Whately, shadow work and pensions secretary, 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.”

Under the Conservatives’ proposals, any single person who is not a UK, Irish or EU citizen would lose their entitlement outright, whether or not they have children.

Couples would only be allowed to keep their tenancy if one of them holds UK, Irish or EU citizenship. Couples where both partners fall outside that group would lose their entitlement.

The party estimates that 228,144 households would become ineligible for social housing under the policy. This is based on taking the housing ministry’s estimate that 292,845 of social renting households have a non-EU foreign national as the lead tenant, applying the household make-up of social housing stock to that figure, and assuming couples in social housing broadly mirror the nationality pattern of couples in the broader population.

The policy is almost identical to the one announced by Reform UK earlier this year, although its version gave people only three months to relocate and threatened deportation for those who failed to.

Reform UK acknowledged that its policy would likely require a change to primary legislation because of the current legal entitlements of people with indefinite leave to remain. However, the Conservative Party said it would effect the policy through changes to the local connection rules.

When Reform announced its version of the ban, housing policy specialists warned that it could have be disruptive, with an “acute” impact on demand for rentals at the lower end of the private rented sector.

“Irrespective of the politics of the issue it’s highly likely that this measure will increase levels of homelessness and local authority expenditure on temporary accommodation budgets,” Dr Julie Rugg, a senior research fellow at the University of York, told Housing Today at the time.

Responding to the Conservatives’ announcement today, Rachael Williamson, director of policy, communications and external affairs at the Chartered Institute of Housing, noted that the law “already prevents most foreign nationals from accessing social housing, with people subject to immigration control generally ineligible”. 

She said only a minority of new social housing lettings went to non-UK nationals, with “most applicants facing long waits regardless of nationality”, adding that banning foreign nationals would “raise significant practical, legal and operational questions”.

Sarah Elliott, chief executive of Shelter, similarly stressed the “already strict rules on eligibility for social housing”. 

“Homes are not handed out to people on arrival,” she said. “To access social housing, you need to be legally settled, have recourse to public funds, pass a local connection test and have reached the top of the council waiting list.

Elliott described the plans as “divisive” and noted that those affected would include “thousands of families and pensioners who have lived in them for decades”.

“It is completely senseless to ruin people’s lives, drive up homelessness and put extreme pressure on councils,” she said.

Kate Henderson, chief executive of the National Housing Federation, added: “Evicting people who are our friends and neighbours and who have played by our country’s rules is against our sector’s values and British values. This policy would increase homelessness and create instability and division in our communities.

“Families forced out of their homes, many with children born and raised in this country, will still need to live somewhere they can afford. Many will end up homeless, increasing pressure on councils who will need to provide expensive emergency housing.

“In a week when families in Thetford have had their homes targeted and stormed, it is dangerous to talk about people’s neighbours as though they are illegitimate occupants of their homes. Politicians should weigh that very carefully.”

All three organisations urged a focus on increasing the supply of social and affordable housing, rather than restricting access based on nationality, with Henderson describing the shortage as ”a result of bad policy decisions over decades that led to the sale of millions of social homes, at the same time as successive government have failed to properly fund and build new social housing”.