Writing for the Mirror, Shelter CEO Sarah Elliott slams Tory leader Kemi Badenoch’s ‘cynical’ plans to ban non-UK nationals from social homes – ‘it is scapegoating, plain and simple’
Another day, another cynical kick-about, where the basic human need for a safe and secure home is punted around like a political football.
Hot on the heels of Reform, who outlined a similar plan earlier this year, the Conservative Party announced on Thursday that it would ban non-UK nationals from social homes in a bid to ‘free up’ a supposed ‘228,144 homes’ for British families and evict existing tenants who aren’t UK or EU nationals.
It goes without saying that this plan is cruel. There are already strict rules on eligibility for social homes, and they are not simply handed out to people on arrival in the UK.
Many of the families targeted by this scheme have lived in the country for years or even decades. They settled here and built lives for themselves. They are our friends, neighbours, and colleagues. They work jobs and pay into the system. They are a part of the fabric of our country.
If this plan was rolled out, thousands of people would be torn out of the homes and communities they have spent their whole lives in, with just six months to secure a roof over their heads. Worse still, many will be put at risk of homelessness.
It’s important to remember that those evicted under the scheme will not simply disappear from the system. They will be forced into ludicrously expensive private renting, where rents have soared out of reach of local incomes.
Social rents cost on average about a third of private rents and, like anyone who sees their rent more than double overnight, many will be forced to rely on housing benefit to make ends meet. Those who can’t afford it will be made homeless. Councils are already shelling out billions every year on the sticking plaster solution of grotty and unstable temporary accommodation.
Announcing the plan, Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary Helen Whately said social homes should not be given out as a ‘free ride on the benefits system’ and that ‘Britain cannot be a cash machine for the world’. But far from saving the taxpayer money, this plan will only serve to pile more costs on to already cash-strapped councils and public services that are stretched to breaking point.
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 for a policy that simply cannot work.
Leaving aside the murky waters the Conservatives could find themselves in if they set about evicting people based on their nationality – a protected characteristic under equality law – let’s call this plan what it is: scapegoating, plain and simple. It’s an attempt by politicians to distract the failures of successive governments, including the Conservative Party, to address the root cause of the housing emergency: our dire shortage of social rent homes.
Social rent homes – where rents are pegged to local incomes – are the only genuinely affordable route out of homelessness for struggling families. For years, we have lost more than we’ve built through sales and demolitions and, last year, we only managed to build a measly 12,000 – just 13% of the 90,000 we need every year to end the housing emergency.
When you spell it out, it’s easy to see that the 1.3 million households who are on social housing waiting lists across England are stuck there because of the political failure to build the homes we need, not because of migration. Families who are trapped for months or even years in temporary accommodation are sick of struggling to hold down jobs and settle children in the appalling and insecure conditions they live with every day. But the good news is it doesn’t have to be this way.
There is a clear way for us to ensure everyone has access to a safe, secure and affordable home and that is to build a new generation of social rent homes. Is it possible? Absolutely. Not only that, we have done it before. In 1967, nearly half (46%) of all new homes built in England were for social rent and almost all (97%) were delivered by councils.
The Prime Minister hit the nail on the head when he said the solution to the housing emergency is to deliver the ‘biggest council house-building programme since the post-war period’. Councils know their communities better than anyone. They know the kinds of homes local people need, whether it is families looking for a permanent place for their kids to grow up or people rebuilding their lives after spending time on the streets.
Now the government must get on with the job of delivering on the Prime Minister’s vision by helping councils to get spades in the ground and removing the financial barriers that stand in their way.
Migrants didn’t cause the housing emergency, but like many of us, they have suffered the brunt of it. It’s time for politicians of all stripes to stop scoring cheap political points at the expense of their constituents and get on with the job in front of them. Anything else will be a distraction.
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