AIBU to ask if the plan to 'prioritise British families' for social housing is an attack on asylum seekers or a long overdue reform?

[Locutus2000]

The Grauniad (again, sorry)

Highlights:

Downing Street wants to give UK families higher priority for social housing in a controversial scheme that will be badged as “British homes for British workers”, the Guardian can reveal.

Polly Neate, chief executive of the housing charity Shelter, said: “This policy amounts to nothing more than scapegoating at its worst. It is unnecessary, unenforceable and unjust. Not only does it ignore the fact that there are already stringent rules so only UK citizens or those with settled status can access homes for social rent, but it blames a group of people for a housing emergency that they did not create.”

Under current rules, local housing authorities are meant to decide social housing allocation based on need, giving priority to those who are homeless or living in overcrowded or squalid conditions. Refugees are allowed to claim social housing, but anyone who is not entitled to benefits is not, meaning most foreigners in the UK are already excluded.

Ministers could also seek to strengthen the rules introduced by the Brown government so that people have to show they have stronger or longer connections to an area before being given priority for housing.

It just seems like dog-whistling to the faction incensed by 'foreigners' taking all the social housing. Equally, there is sod all social housing left and I can understand people's frustration. My elderly neighbours are still bitter about being 'pushed out' of London and perceive this to be a result of immigration.

I can see this being a popular policy even if based on a dubious perception.

• Note from MNHQ: Title has been edited at the OP's request to include the words 'for social housing'.

It should be obvious British people should be prioritised in Britain. What pisses me off more I'd that housing is generally unaffordable. I don't see why 25% of the population should get dirt cheap accommodation for life while others have to pay through their eyeballs. I don't see why social housing isn't a temporary legup, rather than a lifelong golden ticket. The whole housing system from top to bottom is objectively crazy to me. A total failure of policy.

British families should always be prioritised, they were who the houses were intended for.

That policy would lead to people (ie, women with children, anybody disabled and unable to work) in private rentals being trapped without recourse to social housing in the event of the tenancy ending or losing their job/their partners leaving meaning they cannot pay the existing rent or mortgage/house sold without giving enough cash to buy outright.

Just think - 'We've got nowhere to go, the bailiffs came this morning'.

'Do you work? No? Can't help you, then. Drop your kids off with Social Services on your way out'.

I think it is yet another bunch of hot air from Labour.

The problem is that there is so little social/affordable housing available for anyone in the UK.

Changing the allocation rules will not magically make more houses and flats suddenly appear.

Also as far as I know many councils already prioritise people who have existing links with an area when it comes to rehousing anyway. Meaning people who have lived in the area for a certain period or have family ties.

So locals already get priority over any asylum seeker/recent immigrant.

These immigrants are also more likely to be single men anyway so they go to the back of queue as families with kids again are prioritised by council.

So it is just another policy proposed to gain press coverage but that when examined means nothing at all...

''@Sdpbody · 17/07/2025 15:13

@StandFirm · 17/07/2025 11:08
You can be foreign born and be British.
Show quote history
No, you can’t. You may have citizenship but you will never be British.''

It did not take long for the racist and xenophobic to jump on the bandwagon...

I didn't say it was a perfect idea but the fact is that working people are propping the system up and they need accommodation. There will always be priorities, it's finding the best match for needs v wants.

House building needs to be a priority as does making sure the properties that there are already are in habitable condition and inhabited at the same time.

Personally I don't believe that private rentals for large parts of the renting population have ever been the way to to go and I don't believe in the right to buy either.

Also it may incentivise people to work.

i do take your point about disabled and vulnerable people needing housing

I don't think it's racist.
I have British passport. I am not British other than by that expensive paperwork.

I think its a vote winner for sure. The issue is there is not enough housing, it's all well and good people saying work harder and get a mortgage etc but its just not do-able for a lot of people. And when people are given right to remain they are legally obliged to be housed - they are homeless & need to be given an appropriate home. That doesn't help Susan down the road who is in a sub standard private let & waiting for years but now is behind Sandra who has just been given right to remain and higher priority on the housing list. I can see why it causes resentment. There is not enough social housing for the people who need it. We can't keep accepting more and more people into a country where we don't have enough amenities to support them.

Life is difficult enough for those groups of people as well. Getting suitable homes that they are capable of living in should be part of every housing plan at country and local level.

I've not looked back to the beginnings of this thread but I've a vague recollection of it being about housing in London? Well, since all these super rich types are allegedly fleeing the country to avoid tax lets repossess their properties and put them to good use.

I have British passport. I am not British other than by that expensive paperwork.

Again, that's totally subjective and proof that nativist identity politics is bollocks.
My point is that some people will assimilate and feel fully British after some years (certainly within their lifetime) and others won't. There is no hard and fast rule either way, so to say 'no, you can't be British if you are foreign born' is just bullshit as it may be relevant to how some naturalised people feel but by and large not to all. And that's certainly no basis for any law to be passed. Either you are British by citizenship or you're not - and how you or anyone feels about it is an irrelevance.

The population of this country has gone from 40million to 70million in a century. There is just not enough housing or could ever be enough housing for everybody who requires it. Especially in favoured spots.

I have seen posters on MN advocating open borders. How could demand ever be satisfied?

This is a really old thread and they didn't win the election based on this but since its come up again,
I don't agree it should be British first. I think it should be needs first.
For example, I wouldnt want a British man sleeping on his parents sofa and not working to have priority over say a Polish woman fleeing DV with disabled children who has worked and paid taxes here for 10 years and contributes to her local community.
It's very odd to me that people can be so callous and just think about nationality over need. My husband is foreign and I hate all of this anti-foreign rhetoric. He's contributed to society in more ways than one and he should be able to reap the benefits. I do agree that people coming here should contribute and support themselves and all that, but I also don't think there should be a blanket "no" when they pay their taxes like the rest of us.

@StandFirm · Today 15:51

I have British passport. I am not British other than by that expensive paperwork.

Well, that is your opinion.

I have lived in the UK for over 30 years, the majority of my life, and became a citizen.

It's my home and I am British.

Whether people feel or think differently is irrelevant to me.

Long overdue reform. 👍

Yes that’s fair enough but some people seem to have been here for a short time and are houses and have made no contribution

Are housed