Social housing was denied to a family in Vénissieux, a suburb outside of Lyon, allegedly because the mother of the family wears a burka, a piece of clothing “counter to French values,” declared the Rhone city council. The landlord in question justified his position stating that, “She wears the burka, which characterizes a radical practicing of religion incompatible with the essential values of the French and the equality of the sexes.”
The HALDE organization (Haute autorité de lute contre les discriminations or High Authority Against Discrimination) has stated the decision amounts to discrimination and must be appealed. In the meantime, the family of three children is without housing.
