The House of Lords has ruled that disabled asylum seekers have the same right to council housing as UK citizens.
The 26 January ruling means asylum seekers judged to be both destitute and disabled will not be dispersed under the government's system for housing asylum applicants.

Instead, they are entitled to join council housing lists and have their claim assessed.

The ruling was delivered on the same day that the House of Commons' home affairs committee report into the asylum system was published. It criticised the Home Office's October amnesty for 50,000 asylum seekers.

The Lords case arose after a 25-year-old Algerian asylum seeker who uses a prosthetic leg, Abdelaziz Mani, was refused housing support by Lambeth council in south London.

Mani successfully challenged the decision at the High Court in April 2002. The ruling was upheld by the Appeal Court and has now been approved by the Lords, Britain's highest court.

We are disappointed, but still feel we were right to bring the case

Lambeth council spokeswoman

At the time of his application, Mani was due to be moved to Plymouth under the National Asylum Support Service dispersal programme. However, his disability made him eligible for support from Lambeth, where he was resident, under a piece of legislation dating back to 1948.

A council spokeswoman said: "We are disappointed, but still feel we were right to bring the case."

She added that the council would abide by the ruling: "There is nowhere left to take the case."

Meanwhile, the home affairs committee report said the government's amnesty for asylum seekers sent out the wrong message. "Amnesties set up a vicious circle which should be broken by discouragement of unfounded claims, efficient processing of those claims when they are made, and rapid removals when claims have failed," it said.

Source

Housing Today