Inside the fight against Denmark’s ‘straight up racist’ housing law

Denmark’s Supreme Court is due to rule on whether the country’s housing law discriminates against residents categorised as “non-Western”. Seven families from an estate near Copenhagen say they were forced from their homes because of their or their parents’ origins; the decision could affect housing estates across Denmark.

The law applies to nonprofit housing areas with at least 1,000 residents, where more than half are classed as “non-Western” and at least two of four social criteria are met. After five consecutive years on the list, areas must reduce nonprofit family housing to 40 per cent by 2030 through sales, demolition or conversion. An EU court ruling last December said the classification could amount to ethnic discrimination, leaving Danish courts to decide the issue.