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03 March 2017 / Nicholas Dobson
Issue: 7736 / Categories: Features , Local government , Public
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House of cards

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Nicholas Dobson explores the public sector equality duty in relation to homelessness

  • Substantial but incomplete overlap exists between those having priority need for accommodation under the Housing Act 1996 and those with public sector equality duty (PSED) protected characteristics

The ancient Roman poet, Horace, once referred to the “discordant harmony of circumstances”. Some might think this aptly describes the relationship between the public sector equality duty (PSED) in s 149 of the Equality Act 2010 (EqA 2010) and local authority homelessness duties in Pt VII of the Housing Act 1996 (HA 1996). For although as recent decisions indicate, these provisions do and must work harmoniously together, they can also raise complexities for local authority housing officers having to make tough on-the-ground decisions in difficult and sensitive situations.

A case in point was the 17 January 2017 decision of the Court of Appeal in London Borough of Hackney v Haque [2017] EWCA Civ 4, [2017] All ER (D) 68 (Jan). Briggs LJ gave the leading judgment with which Beatson and McCombe LJJ agreed.

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