A new Conservative pledge to kick out foreign nationals from social housing would mainly affect refugees and long-term residents including many NHS staff, Labour has said.
The Tories have announced they would ‘free homes up for British families’ by revoking social housing tenancies for those who are not UK, Irish or EU citizens if they get back into government.
According to the party’s own estimates, almost 230,000 households would no longer be eligible for the benefit under the policy.
They would be given six months to find a new place to live before being forced out of their homes.
Once the policy comes into effect, all EU and Irish citizens would also be barred from getting any future social housing tenancy, with only UK citizens eligible.
The announcement comes less than two months after Reform leader Nigel Farage unveiled a very similar policy.
Under his plans, foreign nationals in social housing would get three months to find private rented accommodation or ‘lose their right to remain and be liable for deportation’.
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A Labour spokesperson called the Conservative plan ‘unserious’ and ‘unworkable’, saying it ‘does nothing to tackle the housing crisis the Tories themselves created’.
They added: ‘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.
‘It would also leave more families at risk of homelessness, while driving up the use of temporary accommodation at the taxpayers’ expense.’
The Conservatives said their policy would mean welfare is a ‘safety net for those who contribute, and not the default for those who arrive in Britain’.
Shadow work and pensions secretary Helen Whately 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.
‘Labour has lost control of immigration and lost control of the welfare bill, and it is British families picking up the bill and sitting on waiting lists.’
Prime Minister Andy Burnham has said he will deliver the ‘biggest council house building programme since the post-war period’ while in office.
In January, Labour pledged a new ten-year building programme for social homes with £39 billion in funding.
The government said its ambition was to deliver around 300,000 social and affordable home over the lifetime of the programme.
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