Dealing with Anti-Social Behaviour - What does the future hold?

It’s a pleasure to be asked to write this blog for the Chartered Institute of Housing on what the future may hold for dealing with anti-social behaviour (ASB). It’s ASB Awareness Week and I have been impressed by all of the activities, news stories and calls for action by housing providers, local authorities, communities and their stakeholders. There has been a lot to reflect on but are we ‘fit for the future’ when it comes to tackling ASB? In this piece, I thought I’d highlight a few areas to keep an eye on to ensure that housing providers, local authorities and their partner agencies are prepared for the future challenges and opportunities.

Consumer Regulation

You’ll all be aware of the upcoming Social Housing Regulation Bill which will change consumer regulation from a ‘reactive’ to a ‘proactive’ approach. We are eagerly awaiting the new consumer standards codes of practice which will be consulted on before the launch in April 2024. The social housing white paper made it very clear that ASB will play a big part of consumer regulation and the regulator for social housing will no doubt focus on this in detail through:

• Tenant satisfaction measures
• Data returns
• Inspections
• Ombudsman reviews

We have heard the Regulator of Social Housing (RSH) say, “don’t wait for regulation”, it is important for housing providers to evaluate their approaches to ASB to ensure that services are improving the lives of customers who experience ASB while also taking measures to address underlying causes of ASB, working with partner agencies.

ASB is now a board room discussion

Over the last couple of decades, ASB has been seen as an operational issue and would rarely get a look in at executive or board level discussions. However, times are changing and as new regulations come down the tracks, more complex ASB cases involving multi-stakeholder approaches arise, and with the fresh spotlight on ASB by government, all combine to elevate ASB as a topic that requires planned discussion at executive and board level. Some housing providers have always seen this as a strategic issue and those providers are often the ones that have invested in specialist teams, have well developed relationships with social care, the police and other stakeholders and are consistently achieving high complainant satisfaction levels.

‘Appy days’

I’ve seen some great progress in the last five years or so with housing providers investing in smarter technologies to provide complainants of ASB with a platform to upload their evidence, record noise nuisance and share videos. Whilst there is still room for the ‘old school nuisance diaries’, it’s great to see apps such as ‘The ASB app’ and ‘The Noise-app’ enter the market and offer smarter solutions which can lead to swifter outcomes. In addition, the post Covid era has meant that we are all far more agile in our approaches to communicating with our customers. Utilising platforms such as WhatsApp to check in on victims of ASB and scheduling in regular video calls has meant that we can be smarter in our use of time. However, please please do not underestimate the value of ‘getting out there’ and being seen. Visiting complainants and perpetrators of ASB gives housing professionals the opportunity to pick up on underlying issues such as vulnerabilities, addictions, neglect, safeguarding concerns and so much more.

Professionalism

I’ve seen a huge increase in demand for training in areas such as ASB, hoarding, mental health, safeguarding, managing difficult situations and resilience in staff. Whilst there is always a need to reflect, learn and improve our approaches to ASB – we are now seeing housing providers getting prepared for new regulation and ‘upskilling’ their staff to ensure that they meet the new standards. I’ve particularly noticed that my clients are really focused on the professional standards required and also learning how to build a resilient team of professionals that can cope with the demands of managing complex situations.

Mixed messages

We witnessed the launch of the ASB Action Plan by the Prime Minister at the end of March 2023. Whilst I agree with many of the areas that the government want to focus on and improve – I couldn’t help but think that there are some mixed messages. The headlines of ‘three strikes and you’re out’ in my view creates an unrealistic expectation that housing providers can simply evict a tenant with three proven breaches of ASB. Any housing professional reading this blog will know that it’s not quite that simple! Not only that, many perpetrators have an underlying issue that is leading them to cause ASB. We need to address these underlying issues in partnership with other agencies in order to truly solve ASB. This will need much more discussion and planning in the future – so watch this space. I’m pleased to be representing the CIH on the ASB Advisory Panel at the Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities so that we can continue to share our views on what is needed from Government.

Concerns for the future

Our statutory agencies such as Social Care and the Police are still at breaking point and unfortunately, I can’t see it improving any time soon. So, what do housing providers need to do to get the help they need to solve problems? Well, as they say ‘knowledge is power’. Remember, that our partner agencies have statutory obligations to investigate ASB or carry out enquiries into safeguarding concerns (s.42 Care Act 2014). Read up on these obligations and use them (gently) as a reminder that we all need to work together to solve these complex problems.