Denmark’s Supreme Court is set to hear a challenge today against a controversial programme designed to dismantle what the government has described as “ghettos” dominated by “non-Western” immigrant communities.
The case was brought by seven families from Helsingor, north of Copenhagen, whose tenancies were ended in 2022 under legislation passed in 2018. The law requires social housing developments where more than half of residents are classified as “non-Western” to undergo reconstruction, renovation and demographic changes, including renting at least 60 per cent of homes at market rates by 2030.
The government uses residents’ “non-Western” backgrounds as one factor in identifying so-called “transformation areas”, previously known as “hard ghettos”.
The families argue that their leases were unlawfully terminated and that the policy amounts to discrimination based on ethnic origin.
Lower courts have sided with the landlord, ruling that the law’s reference to “immigrants and descendants of people from non-Western countries” does not describe a single ethnic group and therefore does not breach Denmark’s Equal Treatment Act.
Eddie Khawaja, who represents the former tenants, said the Supreme Court must determine whether the law’s wording is genuinely neutral. “It’s about whether the criteria regarding the tenants’ origin is neutral or not,” he said.
Majken Felle, head of the Copenhagen renters’ association, stands in the courtyard of Mjolnerparken housing estate in Copenhagen, Denmark, on August 28, 2023
Signs during a protest read (left) ‘They tried to bury us. They didn’t know we were seeds’ and (centre) ‘Where should we otherwise stay, Lars?’
In Helsingor, housing provider Boliggarden announced in early 2020 that it planned major renovations across seven stairwells, covering 96 apartments.
The leases of the residents were subsequently terminated. Most of those affected were from immigrant or other foreign backgrounds.
Riad, a 33-year-old claimant who asked that his surname not be published, said the tenants were pushed out because they had opposed the proposed plans. “They didn’t want the estate to be labeled ‘hard ghetto’, so they wanted to forcibly move us out when we advocated for other solutions,” he said.
“The documents from the landlord specifically mention targeting non-Western inhabitants. It is discriminatory,” he added.
The dispute comes after three decades of increasingly strict immigration policies in Denmark.
When the legislation was introduced, ministers said it was intended to tackle segregation and “parallel societies” in disadvantaged districts, many of which faced elevated crime levels.
Tenant groups and housing campaigners have strongly criticised the law, although it has retained wide political backing.
According to tenants’ associations, around 11,000 people will need to move from their homes and be rehoused elsewhere by 2030 to meet the legislation’s requirements.
The architect of the tough legislation, former Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen (pictured) has warned darkly that ghettos could ‘reach out their tentacles onto the streets’ by spreading violence
In a separate case involving residents of a Copenhagen housing estate, the Court of Justice of the European Union ruled in December 2025 that Danish courts must decide whether the policy is discriminatory.
The court said Danish judges would need to assess whether the “criterion establishes a difference in treatment based on the ethnic origin of the majority of the inhabitants of those areas, thus resulting in the inhabitants of those areas being treated less favourably”.
Khawaja said he remained confident that the Supreme Court would deliver a positive outcome for the families.
“I trust the judges and I’m quite hopeful,” he said.
Riad said he hoped the ruling would mark a turning point in Denmark’s approach to immigrants and citizens from minority ethnic backgrounds. “I really hope the Supreme Court goes our way and that this may be the beginning of a real change in the harsh, discriminatory course against Danes with another ethnic background and immigrants,” he said.
“There must be room for everyone in public housing areas, regardless of social background, skin colour, ethnic origin or level of education.”
Should the Supreme Court rule for the tenants, the families would probably be offered homes comparable to those they were required to leave.
The court has not yet announced when it will deliver its judgment.
READ MORE: Kemi Badenoch moots Danish-style ‘ghetto laws’ to boost ‘assimilation’ by allowing officials to break up ‘non-Western’ majority neighbourhoods