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Social Rented Housing: Eligibility

Asked by Sir James CleverlyConservativeMinistry of Housing, Communities and Local GovernmentTabled Answered 22 July 2026UIN 18023

The question

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether his Department holds information on which local housing authorities have introduced housing allocations policies on requiring (a) a local connection and (b) British citizenship.

Answered by Matthew Pennycook

Local housing authorities cannot discriminate on the basis of nationality so none will have allocations policies that include a requirement for British citizenship.

People whose immigration status means they have no recourse to public funds are not eligible for an allocation of social housing. Local housing authority allocations policies will reflect this.

Information on which local housing authorities have introduced local connection requirements (and if they exempt members of the UK armed forces community, victims of domestic abuse and care leavers) can be found at section C of the Local Authority Housing Statistics dataset, published on gov.uk here.

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