17 organisations voice ‘acute concerns’ over ‘British homes for British workers’

If the government’s main concern is to increase the availability of social lettings, the leaders added, “it could achieve this far more effectively by building more social housing".

Last week, The Guardian reported that officials would launch a consultation “in the coming weeks” into how they can give British citizens higher priority for social housing. Currently, local authorities decide social housing allocation based on need, with refugees entitled to claim.

However, anyone not entitled to benefits is unable to claim social housing, meaning most foreigners in the UK are already excluded.

The letter – co-signed by the Association of Retained Council Housing, the National Federation of ALMOs, the Local Government Association, Homeless Link, Shelter, Crisis, St Mungo’s and Generation Rent – concluded that housebuilding “has not kept pace with demand for decades and we are now seeing its legacy”.

In 2010, funding for affordable housing in England was cut by 63%, causing an 81% fall in delivery of new social rented homes. In 2022-23, only 9,561 social homes were delivered in England, compared to nearly 40,000 in 2010.

The same year, 52,800 households were accepted by councils as requiring help because they were homeless or in danger of becoming homeless.

Gavin Smart, chief executive of the CIH, who co-ordinated the letter, said: “It’s hard to comment on speculative policy but we are entrenched in a housing crisis and focusing on the wrong policies will not alleviate the escalating situation.

“We’ve currently got 1.4 million people on the social housing waiting list and it’s growing by the day. Homelessness is at record levels and councils are struggling with the cost of rising temporary accommodation. We urgently need to increase the supply of social rented homes – that means building more and reducing the loss generated by policies such as Right to Buy.”

Matt Downie, chief executive of Crisis, said: “These plans will do absolutely nothing to deliver the levels of social housing we need and only seek to pin the blame on a group of people in desperate need of support.

“The government knows full well that councils already have strict rules in place so that only UK citizens and those with settled status can access a home.

“It also knows that the reason why waiting lists for social housing have topped 1.2 million is because of successive governments’ failure to build them.

“What we need is reasonable, sensible solutions to the housing crisis that must involve a plan to deliver 90,000 social homes every year. Exclusionary tactics will not see us end homelessness for good.”

A spokesperson for the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities said: “We will not comment on policy speculation.

“Our commitment to building more homes and boosting social housing supply remains, and we are on track to meet our manifesto commitment to build one million homes over this parliament, backed by investment of £10bn in housing supply.”