Danish Supreme Court weighs fate of 11,000 tenants under ethnic housing law
Seven families in Helsingor challenge a statute that classifies residents by national origin, a decision that could force mass relocations across the country.
By William Turner ·
Approximately 11,000 residents across Denmark face eviction by 2030 under a housing statute that categorizes people based on their national origin. The deadline stems from a 2018 law, frequently referred to as the ghetto law, which targets social housing complexes where more than half the population is designated as non-Western. Tenants' associations estimate that this specific group will be forced to leave their homes to meet government integration goals.
The legal definition of non-Western extends beyond geography to include ancestry. Statistics Denmark defines the term as any country outside the European Union, with specific exceptions for nations like Canada, Australia, and the United States. A person born in Copenhagen can hold this label if neither parent is a Danish citizen born in the country. This statistical designation disproportionately affects non-white and non-European ethnic populations, according to a 2020 report from the UN Human Rights Office.
In Helsingor, a coastal city north of Copenhagen, seven families are currently arguing their cases in the Danish Supreme Court. Their leases were terminated in 2022 by the landlord Boliggarden. The company announced in early 2020 that it would renovate 96 apartments at the Nojsomhed estate, a move that preceded the lease terminations. Most of the displaced tenants are of foreign origin. Riad, a 33-year-old plaintiff who requested that his family name remain private, told the news agency AFP that the landlord wanted to avoid the estate being labeled a hard ghetto. He stated that the landlord forced the move when the tenants advocated for alternative solutions.
The government introduced the law as part of a plan titled One Denmark without Parallel Societies: No Ghettos in 2030. The objective is to reduce social problems in specific areas. In 2021, Kaare Dybvad Bek, the interior minister at the time, argued that a high concentration of non-Western foreigners in one area increases the risk of religious and cultural parallel societies. Areas designated as parallel societies must meet specific thresholds for unemployment, crime, education, and income. If an area remains on the list for five years, it becomes a transformation area, formerly called a hard ghetto, and must reduce public family housing to 40 percent by 2030.
The current four-party coalition in power includes the Green Left, which originally voted for the law in 2018. Jacob Mark, the current minister for children, elderly affairs and housing, represents that party. Sophie Haestorp Andersen, the former minister for social affairs and housing, told a parliamentary hearing in January that authorities must continue applying the law until the Eastern High Court issues a ruling. The law has not been changed despite ongoing legal challenges.
The Court of Justice of the European Union ruled in December 2025 that nationality or country of birth alone does not determine ethnic origin. However, the court noted that a neutral criterion covering many origins could be linked to ethnicity. This finding contradicts the reasoning of lower Danish courts in the Helsingor case, which determined that the non-Western label does not describe an ethnic group. The EU court stated that Danish judges must decide whether the criterion rests on ethnic origin and whether it results in less favorable treatment, such as an increased risk of early lease termination.
No date has been officially set for the Supreme Court verdict, though reports suggest a decision could arrive later this month. If the Helsingor families win, they will likely be rehoused in similar apartments. The case involving tenants from Mjolnerparken in Copenhagen remains before the Eastern High Court.
