Nigel Farage has pledged that foreign nationals would be banned from social housing under a Reform UK government, and required to find private accommodation within three months or face possible deportation.

In a Substack essay, the party leader criticised “absurd” housing rules which had resulted in councils spending a fortune on translation services so that migrants who don’t speak English can access social housing.

“Foreign nationals who are unable to relocate to private rented accommodation after a three-month grace period will lose their right to remain and be liable for deportation under Operation Restoring Justice,” said Farage. “Residency and preference requirements for social housing will be used to ensure that veterans and long-term local residents will be preferenced for social housing, with exceptions only for groups like domestic abuse survivors and care leavers.”

The party confirmed the ban would apply retrospectively, regardless of how long someone has been living in the UK, under Reform's policy of abolishing Indefinite Leave to Remain.

Pressure

The move would put more pressure on the PRS, following the party's promise to ditch the Renters’ Rights Act in a bid to reverse the fall in the supply of rental properties.

The party has also promised that a new government fund would pay for hundreds of thousands of affordable homes. Earlier this year Reform MPs called for tougher measures on HMOs; Les Anderson recently described some as being filled with “wrong ’uns” and suggested they were poorly managed. Meanwhile, some new Reform-led councils including Newcastle-under-Lyme have been quick to call for Article 4 directions to clamp down on HMO conversions in their boroughs.

Farage explained that statutory guidelines urging housing associations to set targets for ethnic minority letting had also led to the redistribution of the nation’s stock of social housing away from White British populations who originally lived in these areas.

Discounts

“In Westminster, one in seven social tenants - handed discounts on private sector rents worth hundreds of thousands of pounds over their lifetimes - hold foreign passports with no British paperwork,” he added. “The absurdity of the situation is demonstrated by the almost 15,000 social tenancies handed out since 2020 to those who came to Britain as refugees.”

A government spokesperson told the BBC: “Illegal migrants, asylum seekers and migrants on student or work visas are not eligible for social housing. Nearly nine in 10 social homes go to UK nationals and most councils have tough local connections rules in place to ensure housing goes to people who need it most."

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