Reform UK has announced plans to prioritise British-born workers under 35, veterans and married couples with children for social housing if the party enters government.
Deputy leader Richard Tice also set out plans to build 50,000 affordable homes a year, which he says can be delivered without new taxes or borrowing.
Tice pointed to the 1.3 million people currently on social housing waiting lists, adding that ‘the vast majority’ are without jobs.
The English Housing Survey found UK and Irish nationals already accounted for 88% of social housing householders in 2024/25.
The party has previously proposed removing foreign nationals from social housing.
Sarah Elliott, Chief Executive of Shelter, said the proposals were ‘a blatant distraction from the real cause of the housing emergency,’ which she said was decades of political failure to build enough ‘genuinely affordable social homes.’
‘The solution is building more social homes, not changing the order of the queue,’ she added, warning that prioritising nationality and employment status over housing need risked leaving more families trapped in temporary accommodation.
Elliott also suggested Reform were ‘scoring cheap political points.’ Shelter says 90,000 social rent homes a year are needed over the next decade to meet demand.
