A study shared by the Shadow Home Secretary, claiming half of London’s council houses are occupied by migrants. Chris Philp said that 48 per cent of the capital’s social accommodation is “occupied by people who are foreign — and have likely paid little or no tax”.
Pofessor Matthew Goodwin, of Buckingham University, said: “People are rightly shocked that 48 per cent of London's social housing has gone to people who were not born in the UK”.
Former Tory MP Miriam Cates added: “While working British families are priced out, some council homes are going to unemployed individuals, non-citizens and people who own property overseas.”
The claim is based on figures from the 2021 Census, which show that 376,700 lead tenants in London social housing were born outside of Britain.
That is 48 per cent of all lead tenants, referred to in the figures as the household reference person (HRP), according to the Office for National Statistics.
However, the ONS only has data on HRPs, meaning it does not take into account the nationality or birthplace of other people in the property.
Meanwhile, being born abroad is not evidence on its own that an individual is, or continues to be, foreign and non-British.
An analysis shows that 68 per cent (257,200 of the 376,700) of HRPs born outside the UK and living in London social housing hold a British passport. It concluded that key context is missing from the widely shared online claim about the proportion of social housing that foreigners occupy.
While census data shows 48% of lead tenants in London social housing were foreign-born, more than two-thirds of those lead tenants born outside the UK hold a British passport. Brent has the highest percentage of people living in social housing who were born abroad, at 61 per cent.
The debate over social tenants come as Chancellor Rachel Reeves considers a £25 billion, 10-year Affordable Homes Programme in her forthcoming spending review, amid a battle between the Treasury and Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner over funding for social homes.
