A woman who fled Brighton after suffering domestic abuse has won a housing discrimination case against neighbouring Adur District Council.
Deputy High Court judge Margaret Obi ruled that Adur’s housing allocation policy indirectly discriminated against women fleeing similar abuse.
The judge ruled after a High Court hearing, concluding that the council’s policy put women fleeing domestic abuse at a disadvantage.
She ruled in favour of an unnamed domestic abuse victim who took legal action against the council which has its headquarters in Shoreham.
Judge Obi was told that the council’s policy said that people who did not “live in Adur” but had a “need” to move into the area would be assessed as having lower-priority needs.
The woman at the centre of the case had “fled” from Brighton as a result of domestic abuse, the judge was told.
She argued that the council’s allocation policy put women fleeing domestic abuse at a “particular disadvantage” compared with men because women were “overwhelmingly more likely” to be the victims of domestic abuse and to have to move to other areas as a result.
Lawyers for the council argued that the woman was not being subjected to discriminatory treatment.
The judge published her decision today (Wednesday 21 December) after considering arguments at a recent High Court hearing and ruled that the woman could not be identified in media reports of the case.
