Reform UK‘s social housing plans would reserve at least half of all social homes in England for British-born workers aged under 35, the party announced on Sunday, drawing swift condemnation from Labour, the Conservatives, and smaller parties alike.
Deputy leader Richard Tice set out the proposals at a news conference, saying the existing system of allocating social housing on the basis of need should be replaced by one based on suitability. The change, he said, would push British families, workers and veterans to the front of the queue.
What Reform UK social housing plans would change
‘This comes down to fairness,’ Tice said. ‘We’re saying that the first people we should be looking after are young, British workers (under 35, young British married couples, young British veterans) who have done the right thing. They’ve got a job, they’re doing their best, working in their community, setting a fine example, because the role of the British government is actually to look after British citizens first.’
Under the proposals, prioritisation would also extend to married couples with children, former military service personnel, victims of domestic violence and care leavers. The party said at least half of all social homes in England would be reserved for British-born workers under 35 if Reform entered government.
Tice claimed 540,000 existing affordable social homes are currently occupied by overseas nationals. ‘It’s not fair that young British working families can’t get on the housing ladder when overseas nationals have come to the UK and, because of the current rules based on need rather than suitability, they have jumped ahead in the queue,’ he said. ‘I can’t think of another country where you rock up with a family and you expect the local taxpayer in that country to pay for your housing needs.’
Data from the English Housing Survey show that UK or Irish nationals made up 88.5% of main social home householders in 2024/25, meaning around 11.5% of main householders were non-UK or Irish nationals.
The £10bn funding plan and Right to Buy
Alongside the allocation rules, Tice outlined a plan to build 50,000 affordable social homes a year. He said the programme would require no new taxes or borrowing, and would be funded by raising £10bn a year through three routes.
One third would come from reintroducing the Right to Buy scheme of the 1980s, allowing people to buy council homes at a discount, with proceeds reinvested into new construction. ‘The failure then was they didn’t reinvest the proceeds into building more affordable homes,’ Tice said, adding that reinvestment would provide roughly a third of the £10bn target. A further third would come from housing authorities, and the final third from local government pension schemes.
Labour calls the Reform UK social housing plans unworkable
A Labour Party spokesperson rejected the package in full. ‘It would blow a £10bn blackhole in the public finances, would create years of wrangling with the EU, and could leave British citizens without a place to call home,’ the spokesperson said. ‘This Labour government is investing billions to deliver the biggest boost to social and affordable housing in a generation, to fix the housing crisis we inherited from the Tories.’
The Conservative Party accused Reform of attempting to copy its own policies. Shadow housing secretary Sir James Cleverly said: ‘The Conservatives have already set out comprehensive plans to ensure British nationals are at the front of the queue for social housing. Now Reform are trying to catch up.’ The Tories have said their own plan, which would allow Irish citizens and some EU nationals to remain in social housing, would free up around 230,000 homes.
Housing charity Shelter has previously criticised Reform’s earlier pledge to evict foreign nationals from social housing, saying building more homes is the solution rather than ‘changing the order of the queue’ and ‘stoking division’.
Liberal Democrat spokesperson Gideon Amos called Reform’s plan a ‘cruel gimmick’. Green MP Siân Berry said her party would tackle the housing crisis by ending Right to Buy, building and buying hundreds of thousands of new council homes, and introducing rent controls. She added: ‘Another blatantly racist and cruel policy from Reform, adding to a host of plans to create a two-tier Britain, one for those born in the UK and one for everyone else.’
Reform has already announced it would scrap indefinite leave to remain for migrants and ban foreign nationals from social housing outright, with Sunday’s announcement adding detail to the party’s wider housing platform ahead of any future election campaign.
