The Conservatives have pledged to ban foreign nationals from social housing

At The Housing Community Summit in September, the NHF and the CIH said that it was important for them to engage with politicians of all colours, while this did not mean that they endorsed their policies.  Kate Henderson of the NHF said: " We think the evictions policy goes against the values of the sector. We think the evictions policy goes against British values, and we don’t think it’s lawful even.  These are our friends, our neighbours, these are our communities, but also these are residents who have tenancy agreements, who are paying their rent and will have been paying their rent for decades, potentially.  These are our colleagues; they will have children in our schools.  We’re not going to support the policy.  We would object to that policy.  I’ll be really, really clear about that, and I’ve had conversations about that with politicians of two different political parties this morning. But we have to engage if we’re going to get change, and engagement does not mean endorsement.”  Gavin Smart of the CIH supported this view, arguing that "Some of the proposals that are in circulation are based on what is at best a misunderstanding and at times a misrepresentation of the situation, for instance, the description about access and allocation to social housing.”

They claim that this would free up an estimated 228,144 social homes.  Under plans revealed on 7th August, ineligible tenants would be evicted within six months.  Any single person living in social housing who is not a British, Irish or EU citizen would lose their entitlement, regardless of whether they have children.  Couples, where neither one is a UK or EU citizen and does not have EU settled status, would also lose their entitlement.  However, those with EU settled status would still be eligible for social housing.  Kate Henderson of the NHF responded: “Evicting people who are our friends and neighbours and who have played by our country’s rules is against our sector’s values and British values.  This policy would increase homelessness and create instability and division in our communities.”