Agues Israel Housing Association wins landmark Supreme Court case confirming their rights to provide for members of their faith

AIHA has today won a landmark ruling in the Supreme Course case to protect its policy of offering social housing to members of the Orthodox Jewish community in the first instance.

AIHA was set up to provide social housing primarily for the Orthodox Jewish community. Such is the surplus of demand for social housing from the members of that community, as compared with the properties which AIHA has available, in practice all AIHA’s properties are allocated to members of the Orthodox Jewish community.

As AIHA argued in Court, this is particularly necessary as the Orthodox Jewish community suffers real disadvantages when it comes to social housing. This includes discrimination on the basis of large families, unique housing requirements, levels of poverty, and anti-Semitism due to the different manner of dress within the community and the fact that, for many, English is not their first language.

AIHA has been successful in upholding its policy as the Supreme Court Justices unanimously confirmed that the Orthodox Jewish community, does have specific requirements that need to be met and that its housing allocation policy is lawful since it falls within the exemptions provided by s.158 & s.193 of the Equality Act 2010.

Mrs Ita Symons MBE, the 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 benefitted 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.”

The case has wider ramifications as the race directive that has previously been mentioned in relation to the JFS case was ruled not to be applicable here, and this ruling upholds the rights of faith-based charities to prioritise members of their own faith.

Mrs Symons continued: “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.”

AIHA’s legal team for the appeal before the Supreme Court was Farrer & Co, Sam Grodzinski QC of Blackstone Chambers, and Christopher Baker and Rea Murray both of 4 – 5 Gray’s Inn Square.

ENDS

Notes to editors:

Case Details

The particulars of case relate to a single mother with four children who was not Jewish and was given the highest possible rating for the allocation of housing by Hackney Local Authority. In October 2017, the Council agreed that it would offer the Appellant housing in the next suitable unit that became available but, as of February 2019, no offer had been made. During that time, six properties owned by AIHA became available. AIHA’s housing stock is small - around a dozen of its properties become available each year for lettings, representing less than 1 per cent of social housing lettings in Hackney per year. The Appellant was not considered for those properties as she was not a member the Orthodox Jewish community.

The Appellant challenged AIHA’s policy on the grounds that it constituted unlawful direct discrimination under the Equality Act 2010 (the Act).

AIHA successfully defended its policy by relying on two exemptions set out in the Act. The first (s. 158) provides that organisations may use “positive action” (subject to a requirement that such action is proportionate) to alleviate disadvantage experienced by people who share a protected characteristic (e.g. a particular religious faith). The court found that the Orthodox Jewish community suffered real disadvantages as detailed above and that its policy was proportionate means of achieving its aim of alleviating the disadvantages suffered by this community.

The second (s. 193) provides that a charity will not contravene the Act if it restricts the provision of benefits to persons sharing a protected characteristic pursuant to a charitable instrument, and the provision of benefits is either:

(i) a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim; or

(ii) for the purpose of preventing or compensating for a disadvantage linked to the protected characteristic

It was argued on behalf of the Appellant that (ii) was subject to a proportionality requirement (despite this section not expressly referring to proportionality at all). The Court rejected the Appellant’s argument and confirmed that there was no such proportionality requirement.

The Court was also asked to consider whether AIHA’s policy involved direct discrimination on the ground of ethnic origin, contrary to the race directive. The court found that it was not the case and made a distinction between a charity making decisions about the provision of benefits on the grounds of religious observance (which is not prohibited by the Race Directive) and on grounds of ethnic origin (which is prohibited). AIHA afforded priority (and in practice only offered housing due to demand outstripping supply) to applicants who engaged in Orthodox religious observance. It was not a requirement that applicants be ethnically Jewish.

About Agudas Israel Housing Association (AIHA):

The Agudas Israel Housing Association, also known as AIHA, is a Registered Social Landlord with charitable status, providing affordable housing to the Jewish community in London, Salford and Canvey Island.

AIHA provides supported housing for people with special needs and large housing units for extended families. Its flagship project is Schonfeld Square, a mixed development which incorporates affordable housing for families, sheltered accommodation for elderly members of the community and a nursing home and hospice. It also owns Beenstock House, a care home in Salford and has founded Beis Brucha, the first Jewish mother-and-baby home in the United Kingdom, located in Stamford Hill.

AIHA was founded in 1982 by its current CEO, Mrs Ita Symons MBE, as a campaign organisation to draw attention to the housing and housing related needs of the Orthodox Jewish community.