The Supreme Court has upheld the right of a Stamford Hill-based housing association to prioritise allocation to members of the strictly Orthodox community. 

A single of mother of four who was described in court as "not from the Orthodox Jewish community" had claimed that she was a victim of discrimination by the Agudas Israel Housing Association and Hackney Council. 

But the Supreme Court on Friday dismissed her appeal against previous decisions by the High Court and Court of Appeal which found in favour of the charity. 

Ita Symons, chief executive of AIHA, said: “If this case had gone the other way, it could have had serious ramifications for the entire faith charity sector.

“Whilst it was never our intention to provide more than housing for our community, I think today’s judgement means that we will have a much wider impact and that our work will enable other faith charities to continue to provide for their communities’ for the foreseeable future.” 

 AIHA, which was set up to provide social housing to the Charedi community, told the court that if had surplus places, it would offer them outside the community. 

But such is the demand that in practice all places go to members of the strictly Orthodox community. 

Lawyers argued that the community faced disadvantage in social housing and had unique needs given the typically large size of families. 

Summarising the judgment, Lord Sales said that charity law allowed positive discrimination to correct disadvantage. 

The appellant had also cited the European’s Race Directive but the Supreme Court found that since AIHA’s policy was based on religious observance, it was not discriminating on grounds of race. 

Sam Grodzinski QC, who was part of AIHA's legal team, said,  “The Supreme Court’s judgment sets an important and helpful precedent for how charities, including Jewish ones, are allowed to restrict the benefits they provide to a particular community or group of people in need, in a way which is lawful under the Equality Act."

Mrs Symons said, “Since we started, our focus has always been to ensure that we provide appropriate social housing to those members of the Orthodox Jewish Community who need it. We began as a small group of motivated individuals who saw a local need within our community and built an organisation to fill that need."

She added, “We are proud that we have worked successfully alongside Hackney Local Authority for so many years, and that hundreds of families have benefitted from our work. We have invested a huge amount into today’s judgement and it now proves, beyond any doubt, that our policies have been vindicated and protect members of our community.”