That must now change. Last week, the Court of Appeal ruled restrictions preventing same-sex couples married overseas from sharing public housing and jointly occupying HOS flats are discriminatory and unlawful.

Such couples are blocked under a Housing Authority policy from applying to live together in public housing as “ordinary families” and can only apply as individuals. This involves a longer wait.

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They are not treated as “family members” when applying to share HOS flats. Owners cannot add their same-sex partner as an occupant. Making their spouse a joint owner is not possible without paying a premium.

Nick Infinger and his husband, married in Canada in 2018, are seeking public housing. The other case involved Henry Li Yik-ho, who wed in the UK in 2017, and wanted to share an HOS flat with his husband.

Sadly, Li’s husband Edgar, Ng Hon-lam, did not live to see the court victory. He committed suicide in 2020 after years of depression.

The judgment should cause the Housing Authority to reflect on its determination to uphold these flagrantly discriminatory policies. The court unanimously rejected each of its submissions in turn.

Same-sex couples married overseas are entitled to equal treatment when seeking access to housing, the judges ruled. Discriminatory policies must be justified, on public interest grounds, if they are to be held lawful.

The authority argued that allowing same-sex couples equal access to public housing and HOS flats would further limit the availability of these scarce public resources to heterosexual couples. This, it said, could undermine the protection of traditional families. The court was not impressed.

There was likely to be little impact on the availability of HOS flats, said the judges, as the number of married same-sex couples eligible would be small.

The waiting time for public housing might increase, with a bigger pool of applications. But this does not override their right to equal treatment.

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The ruling is the latest in a long line of court victories for members of the LGBTQ community.

Last month, in a landmark decision, the Court of Final Appeal required the government to put in place a legal framework for the recognition of “core rights” of same-sex couples within two years.

Officials should get on with putting the scheme in place. It is urgently needed. Meanwhile, they should refrain from seeking to uphold discriminatory practices in court.

At the heart of the authority’s arguments in the housing case was a notion that same-sex couples should be treated less favourably than heterosexual ones.

The authority even argued that the HOS policy was needed to deter same-sex couples from applying and therefore making more housing available for traditional families.

Such submissions do not sit well with Hong Kong’s claims to be a fair, open and diverse society.

As the Court of Final Appeal said last month, a legal framework for recognition of rights is needed to remove any sense that same-sex couples “belong to an inferior class of persons”.

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The Housing Authority has already seen its arguments dismissed first by one judge and then three others on appeal. It would be well advised not to risk getting the full set by taking the case to the Court of Final Appeal.

Boosting Hong Kong’s supply of affordable housing remains a “top task” for the chief executive. It will, no doubt, feature in his policy address this week.

But access to that housing must be fair and equal and his address should also reveal plans for creating the new framework on the rights of same-sex couples.