Strategies for tackling nuisance

Neighbour nuisance problems used to be something that housing officers dealt with in their "spare time", after they'd done the lettings, arrears and voids. Neighbour nuisance policies and procedures, if they existed at all, consisted of little more than a requirement that problems would only be investigated if the tenant wrote a letter and an expectation that the majority of problems would be dealt with by tenants sorting it out themselves. Boards and senior management teams had little or no idea about the extent of anti-social behaviour in the areas where their organisation worked because the number of cases was not monitored or reported on. Oh innocent times.

But that kind of approach is no longer tenable for social landlords.

A number of recent reports indicate that RSLs do not always respond appropriately to anti-social behaviour. Perceived weaknesses include inaccurate recording and collation of evidence, and inadequate monitoring of action taken.

The Crime and Disorder Act 1998 established cross agency partnerships to enable organisations, including RSLs, to work in multi-agency for a to combat anti-social behaviour. The myriad of tools and techniques available range from mediation and prevention, to the more robust Anti Social Behaviour Orders and Acceptable Behaviour Contracts.

The government has prioritised action to tackle anti-social behaviour as a key factor in its National Strategy for Neighbourhood Renewal. The Policy Action Team report (PAT 8); one of 18 reports that were the building blocks to the National Strategy, makes recommendations for all agencies working with socially excluded communities. It proposes a strategy of prevention, enforcement and resettlement. These recommendations include placing the need to combat racism at the centre of anti-social behaviour strategies.

RSLs should be mindful of the risks of failing to tackle anti-social behaviour and harassment. Both the Human Rights Act, which comes into force in October, and the Race Relations Act have direct relevance to the services tenants receive and the accessibility and equity of those services.

Many RSLs have adopted measures in consultation with communities built upon sound policies and procedures. These procedures however, must be embedded in a strategy that has organisational support. The strategy should specifically acknowledge the needs of marginalised communities.

Best practice on anti-social behaviour is changing constantly at the moment. New approaches, new research and new comparative data become available month by month.

The new publication, Managing Neighbour Nuisance, Harassment and Anti-Social Behaviour - a Framework for RSLs, commissioned by the Housing Corporation through an Innovation and Good Practice grant, therefore provides a framework to improve the management of anti-social behaviour rather than a definitive detailed statement of how to do it.

It should, however, help social landlords identify action they need to take to answer some key questions.

How big an issue is anti social behaviour in the areas in which your organisation works?
The limited research that exists on the incidence of anti social behaviour suggests it is not uniform throughout the country, but is eight times more likely to be an issue in urban and inner city areas than elsewhere, and is more of a problem in the North West, West Midlands, Yorkshire and Humberside.

Anti social behaviour is also a very localised problem. It may be endemic on one estate or in one area and hardly an issue just down the road.

Identifying the extent of anti social behaviour is in itself difficult because the majority of social landlords do not keep and analyse data on anti social behaviour incidents. Inter-agency statistics are also not yet widely developed.

There is also evidence that incidents of anti-social behaviour are under reported. If there is a history of agencies failing to take effective action on anti social behaviour, local residents will be much less likely to feel it is worthwhile to report new incidents.

How far is anti-social behaviour seen narrowly as a housing management issue in your organisation?
Anti-social behaviour is frequently pigeon-holed as a housing management issue. However, it affects the whole organisation.

Development and regeneration teams should be designing out opportunities for crime and anti social behaviour on new estates and in regeneration schemes. Maintenance teams should have priority response times to deal with the results of anti-social behaviour, such as the removal of racist graffiti or repairing damage to door entry systems; and provide effective security for empty properties; upgrading security provision as part of routine repair work. Human resources teams have the role of ensuring training and development programmes provide staff with the range of skills and knowledge they need. Also they ensure Health and Safety policies and procedures provide adequate protection for staff working "on the patch" in difficult and potentially dangerous situations. IT and Business Information Teams should understand the performance monitoring and reporting needs on anti-social behaviour and provide information on a cross agency basis.

Finance teams can provide coding, budgeting and accounting structures which enable all the costs related to anti-social behaviour to be identified and collated.

How far is ASB seen as a front-line operational issue in your organisation?
Dealing effectively with ASB is a complex process and impacts on all levels in the organisation, not just on the face-to-face activities of front-line staff.

At board/committee level there should be a clear strategic direction; well formulated policy and performance monitoring in place.

At senior management level are there effective processes for strategic development and deployment; performance monitoring; partnership working at a strategic level; established and maintained clear leadership; demonstrable support and training for middle managers;and effective process for policy development in place?

At middle management level there should be evidence of

• effective policy implementation;
  
• effective strategy implementation;
  
• effective processes for procedure development and deployment in place;
  
• performance monitoring in place;
  
• established and maintained operational management level partnership working;
  
• clear leadership;
  
• and finally, demonstrable support and training for front line staff.

How far have the organisation's underlying values been applied to the issues of ASB? How far are these values shared and agreed with residents?
Defining what is and what is not anti-social behaviour, particularly at the margins, is very much about defining what is reasonable and unreasonable behaviour. This test of reasonableness is also used in court.

Within registered social landlords there has often been little debate in teams, between teams and at different levels in the organisation about what constitutes "reasonable" behaviour and how unreasonable behaviour has to be before it warrants a particular penalty such as potential eviction.

But if there has been little debate within RSLs, there has often been even less with residents on different estates or living in different areas.

How far have you developed a strategic approach to anti social behaviour?
If investigations have identified that anti-social behaviour is a problem for your residents you will need to develop a proactive strategic approach to dealing with it rather than rely on reactive front-line activities. An effective anti social behaviour strategy will need to be developed in partnership with key local agencies. It will need to be integrated into the local Crime and Disorder Strategy led by the local authority.

However, developing partnership working takes time and effort, so whilst effective links are being developed with partners other aspects of the strategy should also be worked on. These should include: involving residents; linking patterns of anti-social behaviour to other related issues such as low demand, high maintenance costs and high turnover to develop an integrated cross departmental approach; developing measurable goals and targets within the corporate plan; ensuring the strategy covers prevention, enforcement and reintegration; doing a risk assessment exercise to identify the financial, human, operational and public relations risks associated with anti-social behaviour; and linking the strategy to Best Value service review plans because how registered social landlords deal with anti-social behaviour is often a high priority for residents.

It is also important to identify the resources needed to implement the strategy - but make sure you know what anti-social behaviour is currently costing you and your residents.

The final point is to research current best practice in tackling anti-social behaviour. There are many new initiatives being developed in this area, so make sure you don't reinvent the wheel.