Reform would give foreign nationals three months to leave social housing or face deportation, Farage says
Key Points
- Nigel Farage announced on 14 June 2026 that under a Reform UK government, foreign nationals living in social housing would be given a three-month "grace period" to move into private accommodation.
- Veterans, long-term local residents, domestic abuse survivors and care leavers would be prioritised for social homes.
- Dual nationals would face reduced welfare entitlement, including housing benefit, but would not be automatically removed from social housing.
- The policy was set out in Farage's Substack essay and comes ahead of the Makerfield by-election on 19 June 2026.
- Government figures state that nearly nine in 10 social homes already go to UK nationals, and the Migration Observatory found one in 10 new lettings in 2022-23 had a non-UK lead tenant.
Foreign nationals living in social housing would have three months to move into private accommodation or face deportation under a Reform UK government, Nigel Farage has said.
The Reform leader set out the policy in a Substack essay published on Sunday evening, his first instalment of a monthly newsletter. The essay, which runs to around 5,000 words, focuses on diversity, equity, and inclusion and its effect on Britain.
Under the plans, non-UK citizens who fail to find private housing after a three-month “grace period” would lose their right to remain and become liable for deportation under Operation Restoring Justice, the party’s existing immigration framework.
Farage said veterans and long-term local residents would instead be prioritised for social homes, with exceptions for groups such as domestic abuse survivors and care leavers.
Dual nationals, who hold both British and foreign citizenship, would have their welfare entitlement reduced, including housing benefit, but would not be automatically removed from social housing.
Farage said thousands of social tenancies had been allocated to refugees since 2020, describing the situation as an “absurdity” and pledging to prioritise British nationals.
He claimed guidance for housing associations had led to social housing stock being redistributed away from white British populations who originally lived in those areas, and said the “outflow from social housing has been mirrored in the dismantling of communities”.
He also claimed that a third of social tenants in London were born outside the UK and Ireland, and referenced the case of the first lady of Sierra Leone, Fatima Jabbe-Bio, whose Southwark council property was repossessed last week following a local authority investigation. She had been a tenant since 2007.
Official figures present a different picture of social housing allocation. The Migration Observatory reported in 2024 that one in 10 new social housing lettings in 2022-23 had a non-UK citizen as the lead tenant, attributing this largely to the rising share of non-UK citizens in the overall population.
Census data cited in the report showed that 7 per cent of people living in social housing in 2021 held a non-UK passport, up from 5 per cent in 2011.
The policy lands days before the Makerfield by-election on Thursday, where Reform faces pressure from Rupert Lowe’s breakaway Restore Britain party. A More in Common and UCL Policy Lab poll of 515 adults, published on Saturday, put Labour’s Andy Burnham on 45%, Reform’s Robert Kenyon on 40% and Restore’s Rebecca Shepherd on 8%.
Reform has said Operation Restoring Justice would deport around 600,000 migrants over five years.
The party has also pledged to abolish indefinite leave to remain, meaning migrants from outside the EU would have to reapply for visas rather than qualifying for permanent settlement after five years. Reform has said it would not deport British-born children in migrant families but has not set out publicly what would happen to their parents.
