Reform’s new housing policy is a regressive, racist fantasy. Why wouldn’t it be?

Reform UK has published its new policy for affordable housing in the UK – and it’s somehow even more racist than we’ve come to expect. It victimises homeless people, disabled people and settled migrants, all in the name of elevating a reactionary vision of young, working, British families popping out British babies.

Invoking social housing’s origins with ministers David Lloyd George and Nye Bevan in the policy document’s foreword, deputy Reform leader Richard Tice claimed that the scheme was conceived:

not as a subsidy for immigrants or those who choose not to work. Quite the opposite. It gave working Britain access to the secure housing needed to get on, close to their workplace, with space to raise a family. Allocation wasn’t based solely on need at a single point in time, but on suitability. Being given a council house was seen as a privilege, creating a generation of hard-working, houseproud Brits.

God, they really like getting a war reference in there to justify saying something abhorrent, don’t they?

Tice is also conveniently skipping over the fact that in 1950, immediately after Bevan’s reforms, the employment rate was around 70.4%. It peaked again in ’56, at 74.8%… which is still lower than today’s 75%. People work – they just can’t afford houses. And, of course, those who can’t work still need somewhere to live (but we’ll get to that).

‘Being in work will be a requirement’ says Reform

The rest of Reform’s scheme isn’t exactly an improvement on Tice’s foreword. The policy document goes on to state that:

Reform UK will back British workers. Being in work will be a requirement to access new social housing built under this scheme. Social housing should not be a reward for claiming welfare.

You may be forgiven for thinking ‘even Reform must make an exception for disabled people – surely those who can’t work need social housing more than anyone?’ Well, you’d be wrong, wouldn’t you.

The document doesn’t mention disability a single time. It includes no carve-outs for people who can’t work. Instead, it plans to prioritise under-35s, “veterans, those in work and married couples” – which, as the Canary wrote yesterday, is pure conformist bullshit.

The current system (ostensibly) prioritises people who need social housing by dint of homelessness, disability, or living in a dangerous situation. That’s the system Reform want to do away with.

Please, oh please blame the foreigners

The document goes on to state that:

Reform UK will end access to social housing for foreign nationals, evicting them after a short grace period.

A Reform UK government will deliver an additional 50,000 new affordable homes per year.

These commitments will make available around 1 million homes for British families.

First and foremost, the ‘foreigners are taking your homes’ rhetoric is on full display here. Along with being nakedly racist and xenophobic, it’s also a bunch of bloody rubbish.

Just 11.5% of main householders in social housing are non-UK or non-Irish nationals. Migrants on work / student visas, illegal migrants and asylum seekers aren’t even eligible to apply.

Reform itself admits that the Housing Act 1996 already prevents foreign nationals from accessing social housing. The exceptions are for people with EU Settled Status or Indefinite Leave to Remain, i.e. people who have already been welcomed to stay in the UK indefinitely. Reform wants to renege on that deal.

As such, Labour accused Reform of going after:

long-term UK residents that have contributed to our country but are not British citizens, including NHS staff.

Return of the magic money tree from Reform

So, next question – how does Reform plan to fund this ridiculous scheme? Well, the policy doc has that (half-) covered too:

This will require £10 billion a year of investment, which will be fiscally neutral and require no new taxes or government borrowing.

It will be funded through a combination of the British Sovereign Wealth Fund, housing associations in partnership with institutional capital and a renewed Right to Buy Scheme.

It later adds that “reforming the planning system” and scrapping Net Zero will contribute to that £10bn, which is:

based on £200 per square foot and an average unit of 1,000 square feet. That figure will be lower given the overregulation of the sector (making this a conservative estimate).

So, to clarify, Reform is planning to build more houses by cutting corners and lowering the standards it needs to meet. We hope all those married, under-35, working veterans the party loves so much enjoy their crumbling, damp-ridden death traps.

Also, if you’ve never heard of a ‘British Sovereign Wealth Fund’, don’t worry – it’s because it doesn’t exist. Rather, it’s the name Reform gives to its plan to consolidate around 100 council pension schemes into a single £500bn pot.

A Reform government would then require this pot to direct 25% of its investments to UK companies and products. How exactly it plans to turn a profit from social housing is anyone’s guess. Wave goodbye to your council pensions if Reform get in, folks.

‘Changing the order of the queue’

As ever, there’s far more nonsense to wade through in Reform’s plan, but we’d be here all day at that rate. Fortunately, homelessness charity Shelter cut straight to the heart of the matter. It stated that the way to solve social housing was to build more houses, but Reform is focused on “changing the order of the queue”.

The charity’s chief executive, Sarah Elliott, fleshed out that criticism. She said Reform’s policy put “nationality and employment ahead of housing need”. This, in turn, would leave:

even more families trapped in awful temporary accommodation for years on end. Not to mention putting those escaping domestic abuse and violence at serious risk of harm.

Elliott added that the scheme would increase levels of homelessness in the UK, and was clearly designed to “stoke division”.

We at the Canary couldn’t have put it better ourselves. This policy, if you would call it that, is nothing more that barely-disguised racist, regressive fantasy – shoddy British houses for married British couples making little British babies, and sod the settled migrants, disabled people and homeless people.

As ever, it’s exactly what you’d expect from far-right Reform UK.

Featured image via the Canary

By Grace

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