Council resists claim of indirect sex discrimination in homelessness judicial review
The London Borough of Tower Hamlets has resisted a claim that a database of homeless applicants either needing or requesting a move to alternative accommodation, was a “waiting list” or means of delaying suitable accommodation being provided, and that it put women at a disadvantage.
The administrative court found that the database was instead a tool that allowed housing officers to sift through large quantities of information and match demand to supply.
The local authority had maintained a database of homeless applicants either needing or requesting a move to alternative accommodation. The database assigned priority codes to those applicants reflecting why a move was sought.
In R(Begum) v London Borough of Tower Hamlets (Shelter Intervening) [2024] EWCA 2279 (Admin), the claimant alleged the database was a “waiting list” or means of delaying suitable accommodation being provided, and that it put women at a disadvantage.
The court accepted the intervenor, housing and homelessness charity Shelter’s submissions that women were more likely to be placed in temporary accommodation.
However, the statistics relied upon by the claimant raised “too many imponderables” to make any meaningful comparison to show women were at a disadvantage.
The Administrative Court concluded that the local authority maintaining a database of homeless applicants:
- Was not a ‘provision, criterion or practice’;
- It was a practical tool that enabled housing officers to sift through vast quantities of information and match demand to supply;
- If it were a provision, criterion or practice, it did not put women at a disadvantage.
Therefore, it concluded that the Local Authority was not in breach of its Public Sector Equality Duty.
Counsel for the council, Genevieve Screeche-Powell of Field Court Chambers, said: “For [the claimant] to establish that more women with children are affected by homelessness than men with children, it would be necessary to establish that a male homeless applicant with children is statistically more likely to receive an offer of permanent suitable accommodation as a result of being on the database. But there was no evidence of that.
“Therefore there was no evidence of a causal link between the use of the database and the particular disadvantage claimed by Ms Begum.
“Alternatively, even if it was a provision, criterion or practice and was discriminatory, it was a proportionate method of achieving a legitimate aim.”
The London Borough of Tower Hamlets has been approached for comment.
Lottie Winson
