Challenging discrimination
If you have been refused housing from a council or housing association to which you thought you were entitled, you may have been discriminated against. You may be able to challenge the refusal by getting a review of it, or appealing against it, or getting legal advice and taking a case to court. This page deals with racial discrimination.
Racial discrimination happens when you are treated less favourably, such as being refused a service on the grounds of your nationality, race or ethnicity, or when a service is offered in a way that makes it difficult or impossible for people of some national, racial or ethnic groups to get it, and there is no legal justification for this. Examples of discrimination might be:
- Council officers refusing a tenancy to someone whose humanitarian protection is about to end because they do not understand the law on eligibility
- A homeless persons unit refusing an application from a European worker because they have not read the regulations on eligibility properly
- A housing association refusing to put a work permit holder in their area on their waiting list because s/he has limited leave to remain.
If you believe that you have been discriminated against, it is important to get all the information you can about what has happened and to act quickly.
- Ask for any decisions to be in writing
- Get the names and job titles of the people involved
- Make a careful record of what has happened
First, it is important to explain that you believe that you have been discriminated against and ask to speak to a manager or supervisor to try to resolve the problem.
If this does not help, get advice, from either:
- the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC)
- or a local Race Equality Council (you can find these from the local telephone book or other lists of local help agencies).
They will advise you about how to proceed, and may be able to offer you support and legal advice or representation. The EHRC may also decide to carry out an investigation in certain cases and, if they found that discrimination had happened, would then make orders to stop it.
If the EHRC cannot offer legal advice and representation, you may be able to get this from a solicitor on legal aid or a law centre. Organisations listed on our links page may be able to help you find one.
There is a time limit of six months on taking legal action against racial discrimination (time limits for other types of legal action may be much shorter, so you should never delay in getting advice if you think you may need to do this), but it may take some time for the case to come to the county court where it will be heard. If you win, the court may order the discrimination to end and the people who discriminated against you to pay compensation for any losses and a sum for injury to feelings. You may be made an offer to settle the case before it gets to court.