This may not be a universally held view, but I think we housing lawyers aren’t really very good at equality law.
We were very late to the party with the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (the first higher court case wasn’t until 2003, with North Devon Homes v Brazier [2003] EWHC 574 (QB); [2003] HLR 59 and we didn’t get into the Court of Appeal until Manchester CC v Romano [2004] EWCA Civ 834; [2004] HLR 47). Then, of course, we broke the Act with Malcolm v Lewisham LBC [2008] UKHL 43; [2008] HLR 41). And, at least as far as I’m aware, there isn’t anything substantive on how the Equality Act 2010 plays out in our work yet either.
This seems odd to me. What are we all missing? The Housing Law Practitioners Association has its bi-monthly meeting this Wednesday (May 15, 2013) and has secured two top-notch speakers to try and help members understand how the Act can be used. We have Robert Brown, the assistant editor of the Housing Law Reports who, in his former life in the charity sector, was heavily involved in lobbying for the 2010 Act. He is joined by Sarah Steinhardt, who has been actively pushing Equality Act arguments “at the coal face” and has an extensive background in wider discrimination and equality issues.
So, come one, come all to the HLPA meeting this Wednesday, 7pm, Portland Hall,
University of Westminster, 4 Little Titchfield Street, London, W1W 7UW.