It's wicks who must 'get real' on bad behaviour

The 206 members of the Social Landlords' Crime and Nuisance Group represent almost 3 million tenancies. We are committed to sharing good and best practice in tackling nuisance and antisocial behaviour and lobbying for the tools to tackle it.

Many of our members have piloted innovative and successful projects, including establishing teams of specialists, working closely with partner agencies, including the police, and setting up preventative and rehabilitative schemes.

We are increasingly aware of what works: early intervention, leadership, positive multi-agency working and organisational commitment.

We oppose the proposals to dock housing benefit from antisocial tenants, as do many housing professionals, on the basis that they will not work and are likely to achieve a perverse outcome – leaving us with further arrears. Perpetrators may just walk away, leaving the social landlord with further debt, reducing our ability to use our scarce resources to establish more preventative and rehabilitative schemes.

We also question whether the housing benefit system will be able to cope with even more short-term change of circumstance, and foresee practical issues such as whether the loss of benefit will travel with an individual or be associated with one tenancy.

If Wicks' experience in his constituency surgery reflects inactivity, we would be delighted to show him examples of good practice with which to compare it: the use of neighbourhood wardens in the neighbouring borough of Sutton, specialist teams in the London boroughs of Brent, Camden, Lewisham, Islington and others. In Greenwich, south-east London, he would see positive partnerships between housing and environmental health.

If he doesn't mind travelling a little further, he could see the Liverpool and Manchester specialist teams, recently visited by Louise Casey, director of the Home Office's antisocial behaviour unit. She also recently visited a meeting of some 20 members of the Social Landlords' Crime and Nuisance Group and said she was "inspired".

Or, Wicks could visit the Charter Housing Association in Wales, a small association which has set up an assessment service offering a first-response option for neighbour nuisance. Initially part-funded by the Welsh Assembly, it is now fully funded by the association as its board accepts the business case that it saves them money.

There are many more examples of good practice up and down the country. The SLCNG aims to make them into common practice.

The deputy prime minister's announcement on 5 February of further funding for neighbourhood wardens, community-led programmes to improve neighbourhoods and help local authorities transform the quality of their parks and public spaces is welcome, as is his assertion that "all this will be supported by the proposals we will bring forward in our forthcoming antisocial behaviour white paper and bill – tackling issues that undermine our communities".

Casey is consulting widely before working on the white paper. The SLCNG urges all social landlords to use this opportunity to make their views heard. Let's support tough action to tackle nuisance based on what will work, not just what will grab the headlines.