Landlords are breaking law by discriminating against the most vulnerable

A new report shines an important light on the prejudice faced by those who receive the Housing Assistance Payment

People have a right to safe, affordable and secure housing. But in 2020 alone, nearly a fifth of all Equal Status Acts (ESA) related queries, were about discrimination relating to housing issues.

Access to affordable, safe, secure, and decent standard housing is essential for our health, our mental wellbeing, and our ability to live a life with dignity.

Yet we know that for too many people in Ireland today, the housing crisis has created many barriers to accessing adequate and decent housing.

The Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission, the organisation that I lead, has launched a new report authored by Rory Hearne and Judy Walsh, which shines an important light on the prejudice and discrimination faced by those who receive the Housing Assistance Payment, despite the fact that this discrimination is illegal under the Equal Status Acts.

The right to adequate housing is recognised under international human rights law. This includes the right to equal and non-discriminatory access to such housing. Yet in 2020 alone, nearly a fifth of all Equal Status Acts (ESA) related queries, were about discrimination relating to housing issues.

A homeless protest by the Right2Housing group in Cork in 2019. Picture: David Creedon

This discrimination is faced by those in existing tenancies, and those seeking places to rent. We know that certain minority groups are more likely to be particularly impacted by housing discrimination.

This report shows how landlords and letting agents continue to unlawfully discriminate against the most vulnerable groups in our society including lone parents, people with disabilities, Travellers, Roma, and people in direct provision among others.

It also shows that people face many barriers in challenging this discrimination. For instance, the unequal power dynamic between tenant and landlord or agent can compromise a person’s ability to contest discrimination.

IHREC has repeatedly raised concerns about discrimination of this nature and about barriers in access to justice, such as the difficulty of demonstrating that discrimination has occurred and the lower capacity of those most affected to pursue cases.

Recommendations

Our report makes 14 recommendations, including amending the Equal Status Acts to address the fact that there is no legal obligation for a landlord to provide a tenant with their address, leading to a significant barrier to tenants accessing justice in cases of discrimination. Quite simply, if a tenant doesn’t have a landlord’s address, it can be impossible to serve forms on them, and if the WRC can’t be assured that the landlord received the forms, then a case can be dismissed.

Alongside this, we must allow for effective redress by removing the compensation ceiling to enable the Workplace Relations Commission’ (WRC) awards to reflect the real harm caused by the more detrimental instances of discrimination.

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NGOs and other organisations are important actors in helping people fight this discrimination, and those providing advice and advocacy support to individuals should be adequately funded and resourced. There is also a need within the laws to include a definition of multiple and intersectional discrimination and to permit such complaints.

Discriminating against any person on the basis that they are in receipt of housing benefit or other social welfare benefits, is illegal and has been since 2016. Moreover, the State has a duty to ensure that the full rigours of the law are enacted against those who continue to cynically prevent our most vulnerable groups from accessing their right to adequate housing. 

More broadly though, the discrimination we’re talking about is worsened by broader structural issues with the Equal Status Acts.

Outdated equality laws

Ireland’s equality laws are now over 20 years old. Though progressive and far-reaching at the time that they were introduced, they require strengthening and modernisation to ensure we continue to protect and promote equality.

There have been some positive evolutions of our laws over time. In fact, the law that outlawed discrimination on the basis of being in receipt of housing assistance payment only came into force in 2016. And it is arguably the biggest change in equality law in the two decades the acts have been in existence.

It is crucial that these broader structural issues are addressed within the ongoing government review of the Equality Acts.

These laws are currently under review by the Minister for Equality in order to ascertain how appropriate they are in today’s Ireland. This work needs to honestly assess our anti-discrimination laws and, as deficiencies in the existing legislation are highlighted, they must be remedied to bring about radical change on how we promote and protect equality.

This review is important. It will shape the future of equality law in Ireland, the benchmark that determines how we treat individuals facing discrimination; our friends, families and strangers. We are faced with a rare opportunity to level up our equality laws so that they better support the most marginalised groups in our society, and it is an opportunity to extend the equality safety net that we all enjoy.

No matter who you are, and no matter where you come from, you should be treated equally.

We need to make the necessary changes to end discrimination toward those in receipt of HAP, and more broadly examine how the issues raised in today’s report can enhance our understanding of the required changes in the Equal Status Acts.

Sinéad Gibney is chief commissioner for the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission