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Jewish housing association’s allocation policy deemed legal by Supreme Court
The highest court in the UK has ruled that a London-based housing association can continue to provide social housing primarily to members of the Orthodox Jewish community.
Agudas Israel Housing Association’s (AIHA) allocation policy was challenged in the Supreme Court by a single mother of four who issued proceedings against Hackney Council and AIHA after she was not offered vacant properties owned by the latter while waiting for a home on the council’s waiting list.
In October 2017, the appellant was given the highest level of priority by Hackney Council and was told she would be offered the next suitable unit that became available. By February 2019 she had still received no offer of accommodation.
During that time six properties owned by AIHA became available, however the appellant was not offered them as she is not a member of the Orthodox Jewish community.
The woman’s lawyer argued that the appellant had suffered unlawful direct discrimination on grounds of race or religion contrary to the Equality Act 2010.
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However, AIHA argued that its policy of prioritising the Orthodox Jewish Community was necessary as the community suffers disadvantages when it comes to social housing, including discrimination on the basis of large families, unique housing requirements and levels of poverty.
It was also argued that members of the community face anti-Semitism as a result of their different manner of dress and the fact that many do not speak English as their first language.
The High Court, the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court have now all ruled that AIHA’s policy is legal as charities are permitted to restrict benefits to those with protected characteristics if they are seeking to overcome or prevent a disadvantage caused by that characteristic.
Under its policy, AIHA offers homes to members of the Orthodox Jewish community in the first instance, however the surplus of demand for social housing from members of the community means that all of AIHA’s housing is allocated to Orthodox Jewish families in practice.
Ita Symons, chief executive of AIHA, said: “Since we started, our focus has always been to ensure that we provide appropriate social housing to those members of the Orthodox Jewish community who need it.
“We began as a small group of motivated individuals who saw a local need within our community and built an organisation to fill that need.
“We are proud that we have worked successfully alongside Hackney local authority for so many years, and that hundreds of families have benefited from our work. We have invested a huge amount into today’s judgement and it now proves, beyond any doubt, that our policies have been vindicated and protect members of our community.
“If this case had gone the other way, it could have had serious ramifications for the entire faith charity sector. Whilst it was never our intention to provide more than housing for our community, I think today’s judgement means that we will have a much wider impact and that our work will enable other faith charities to continue to provide for their communities’ for the foreseeable future.”
