Tories unveil bombshell plans to bar foreign nationals from social housing

Foreign nationals would be barred from securing new social housing tenancies under new Conservative proposals, while existing non-EU tenants would be required to leave their homes within six months.

The plans would prevent all foreign citizens from taking on new social housing tenancies, while non-EU nationals already living in council or housing association properties would have their tenancies terminated. The Conservatives say the homes would then be allocated to British families waiting for accommodation.

According to the party, the proposals would free up almost 230,000 homes for British citizens and help reduce the welfare bill.

Shadow housing spokesman Sir James Cleverly said: “The people whose taxes paid for building social housing are now being sent to the back of the queue for it. Putting that right should not be controversial. Every home handed to someone who arrived last year is a home withheld from a family who has waited a decade on the list.

“We will put British citizens first and stop spending taxpayers’ money on social housing for foreign nationals.”

Figures from the Centre for Policy Studies think tank show the proportion of new social homes allocated to non-EU nationals rose to 11.3 per cent last year, up from 10.4 per cent in 2023 and 5.8 per cent in 2010.

The think tank also estimates there are around 470,000 non-UK and non-Irish citizens currently living in social housing. According to the English Housing Survey, nearly 12 per cent of main householders in social housing in 2025 were non-UK or Irish nationals.

Some parts of England have significantly higher proportions than others. Around one-third of social homes in Brent, north London, are occupied by foreign citizens, compared with more than one-quarter in Leicester and more than one in five in Manchester, reports the Daily Mail.

Under the proposals, any single non-EU national living in social housing, whether or not they have children, would lose their tenancy. The same would apply to couples where both partners are non-EU citizens.

However, couples in which one partner is a British, Irish or EU citizen would remain eligible to stay.

The Conservatives estimate that 228,144 households would become ineligible for social housing if the policy were introduced.

The announcement prompted an immediate response from Reform UK, which argued the proposals did not go far enough.

The party’s home affairs spokesman, 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.”

Nigel Farage said in June that Reform would ban foreign nationals from living in social housing, with tenants expected to move into private accommodation within three months or face possible deportation. Restore Britain leader Rupert Lowe has also proposed preventing non-British citizens from claiming Universal Credit, disability benefits and accessing social housing.

Rob McNeil, deputy director of the Migration Observatory at the University of Oxford, said the proposal had “appeared in different forms for some time”.

He said: “If the policy is eventually implemented either by the current government or a future one, the impacts on British citizens’ access to social housing is likely to be small if responsibility for housing non-citizens at risk of homelessness simply shifts to temporary accommodation.”

Housing charity Shelter also criticised the plans.

Sarah Elliott said: “There are already strict rules on eligibility for social housing. These divisive plans would brutally kick people out of their homes. And let’s not forget that social tenants pay rent, which goes back to the public purse and into society.

“It is completely senseless to ruin people’s lives, drive up homelessness and put extreme pressure on councils. This policy does nothing to deliver new social homes, which is what we desperately need.”

The proposals follow plans put forward by the previous Conservative government that would have required foreign nationals to have lived in the UK for 10 years before becoming eligible for social housing. Those measures were scrapped by Labour after it took office.

Responding to the latest proposal, a Labour Party spokesman said: “This is an unserious, unworkable proposal, copied from Reform.

“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.”