Interim report says local homes for local people may be illegal

The Institute for Public Policy Research, which has been researching housing allocation for the Equalities Commission since last year, has concluded that Gordon Brown’s pledge to provide more social housing for local people is ‘flawed’ and could open up councils to legal challenge. Its unpublished interim report notes that there was no evidence that allocation policies discriminate against white groups and there was only a small amount of evidence that some policies unintentionally discriminate against minority ethnic communities, but the perception otherwise could trigger legal challenges against local authorities by those who feel unfairly treated.