'Get real' on unruly tenants, demands Wicks

Work and pensions minister Malcolm Wicks has rounded on housing professionals who oppose the government's tough stance on antisocial behaviour.

In an exclusive interview with Housing Today, he called for the "elite who celebrated the defeat of Frank Field's bill" to "get real" and address the serious concerns of tenants who have to live through almost daily abuse.

The bill, which was talked out of the Commons last summer (HT 25 July 2002, page 8), would have seen antisocial tenants docked of their housing benefit. It was denounced by the housing sector.

Homelessness charity Shelter, the Local Government Association, the National Housing Federation and the Chartered Institute of Housing sent Wicks a highly critical letter. All four said they wanted effective measures to tackle antisocial behaviour but opposed Field's bill.

Wicks said that as far as his own constituents in Croydon North were concerned, antisocial problems included "people who have excreta put through their letterbox and people whose children are beaten up".

He continued: "The housing field needs to get real and meet the people I meet every week.

"When the housing community talks about homelessness, they forget there are those who make themselves homeless [because of antisocial behaviour].

"I feel quite strongly about this. When I read some of the commentary [in July], I thought: where do these people live? Have these people ever sat down with their tenants, the people they are meant to represent?"

However, he said Field's proposals "were never going to be the most important part of the armoury" of weapons against nuisance neighbours.

Jim Coulter, chief executive of the National Housing Federation, responded: "Housing associations are living in the real world. They are very aware that the biggest concern in many communities is antisocial behaviour."

Ben Jackson, director of external affairs at Shelter, said: "We were right to oppose Frank Field's bill in view of the damage it could cause, such as bringing homelessness to 'innocent' households alleged to have committed antisocial behaviour. It wouldn't solve a problem, just move it on for other people to deal with." He added that he was "cautiously optimistic" Field's proposals will be dropped from the forthcoming Antisocial Behaviour Bill.

However, Wicks would not say whether the proposal would feature in the forthcoming bill.

Wicks' comments came as the Department for Work and Pensions published quarterly performance statistics for council housing benefits services for the first time. Gwyneth Taylor, programme manager for the Local Government Association, said the publication of the statistics could lead to "a witch-hunt" against underperforming authorities.

A pilot scheme to allow claimants of income support and job seekers' allowance to apply for housing and council tax benefit at Job Centre Plus outlets was also announced this week.

Three regions will test out the scheme for one year.