ASB

Just when you thought the recession was well underway, it turns out there are still some people waiting for it to hit.

Inside Housing’s snap survey of 22 of England’s largest social landlords - managing more than 500,000 properties between them - shows that almost two-thirds expect anti-social behaviour in their communities to increase as a result of the downturn.

So far, according to our poll, the average number of reported cases has not risen noticeably since 2007. Nevertheless, landlords are preparing for an increase, marshalling their resources in a number of ways.

The survey also uncovers the barriers preventing landlords from resolving more ASB cases. Preparations for the recession-effect could help here - our data suggests the key to many of the problems raised is improving the skills of frontline workers. Are landlords up to the challenge?

The recession bites

The recession’s effect on levels of anti-social behaviour is a divisive question. Gina Cutler, senior housing manager responsible for nuisance prevention at Knightstone Housing Association, is among those expecting a significant rise in unruly activity.

‘If more people are going to find their finances tight, the stresses and strains are going to spill into daily life,’ she says. ‘We get more ASB in communities with higher incidences of poverty and dependence on benefits.’

Some of those who disagree with the majority believe that to expect a rise in ASB among social tenants is to fall prey to stereotypes around poverty and worklessness.

‘The economic situation does not necessarily mean that ASB should rise,’ says Angela Maclachlan, director of operations for temporary accommodation specialist Orchard & Shipman. ‘This would be too simplistic and does not acknowledge the diverse range of societal factors and influences which lead to ASB. Finance is one factor… but it is difficult to predict and relies on heavy stereotyping.’

Angus MacDonald, a housing management consultant with extensive experience in ASB work, agrees. ‘You’re saying that if people have less money they will behave badly. Most people in social housing are decent human beings - it’s fairly condescending to say it is going to affect social housing more than other areas of housing. There are huge numbers of people on unemployment or housing benefit who don’t go out shoplifting.’

How long will we have to wait to find out who is right? The recession has been upon us officially since January this year, but the announcement followed two successive quarters of economic shrinkage. According to our survey, the number of ASB cases reported per property has remained stable over the past year and although many respondents anticipate a rise, none report experiencing any noticeable recent increases. Either way, this recession will provide important evidence for ASB professionals in downturns to come.

Conflict resolution

If the majority are correct in their prediction, the question becomes whether landlords’ ASB teams possess the capacity to handle an increase. Figures from Housemark suggest that professionals’ skills are getting better: 57 per cent of cases were resolved in 2007/08, with early indications that 2008/09 will show an improvement. How can landlords improve on that figure? We asked what they found to be the greatest barriers to resolving cases.

Overwhelmingly, respondents blamed the majority of their unresolved cases on a lack of evidence - either because witnesses were reluctant to come forward, or because of the difficulties and specialist skills involved in gathering and presenting evidence.

Helen Hudson, ASB project co-ordinator at Hyde Martlet Housing Association, describes an imbalance between government expectations of social landlords’ ASB teams and the investigative skills they possess. ‘This is particularly in relation to evidence gathering, handling and presentation,’ she adds. ‘There is a tension between the new housing role of being an “investigator” and the traditional role of being a housing provider.’

Skills shortage

Mr MacDonald believes too much responsibility is being placed on housing officers ill-equipped to act as first point of contact. ‘There is a high expectation on housing officers who haven’t had training,’ he says. ‘Often your generic housing officer retains responsibility for ASB up to a certain level, and housing officers aren’t equipped to tackle witness support and evidence gathering.’

As our figures show, most of the respondents who are expecting a rise in ASB in the near future are concentrating on extra training for their staff in preparation.

Peter Jackson of the Social Landlords’ Crime and Nuisance Group believes this cannot come soon enough. ‘There is an issue about skills and training that housing officers need [in relation to] ASB - not just support but intervention, funding, what tools to use, what partner agencies to work with. It’s an extremely complicated job. But if it’s a housing-related issue, the housing officer should be trained up to see it through from start to finish.’

Housing officers already do a fantastic job, Mr Jackson adds, quoting data from Housemark. ‘Of all housing-related ASB cases, frontline housing officers resolve 83 per cent of cases as reported to social landlords,’ he points out. ‘That is a staggering figure.’ It is the more complex cases of ASB, where evidence and the use of witnesses comes in, for example, that are where attention needs to be focused.

Witnesses, like evidence, need to be handled sensitively and skillfully. The key to supporting them, argues Ms Cutler, lies in the relationship any witnesses have with their landlord. ‘It’s about building trust with people,’ she says. ‘It’s about people who are witnesses being able to trust the organisation enough to come forward.’

Building that trust can happen through what she calls ‘support links’: ‘That might be someone popping round once a week for a cup of tea to find out what is going on; for others we may need to make physical changes to their property while they are being a witness. It depends on the case.’

Equally as important, adds Mr MacDonald, is that landlords demonstrate and publicise their support for witnesses. ‘If you use a consistent approach and you show people that you are willing to take action where necessary, then you will start getting much more evidence.’

Attaining these skills is within the grasp of any organisation willing to devote time and resources to developing them. But the second most-cited reason in our survey for cases remaining unresolved is poor working relationships between landlords and other agencies.

‘We have a lot of difficult engagement with social services,’ says the ASB manager at one large English housing association. ‘This issue comes up time and time again. If we could get them to work with us we could handle our cases much better.’

Where mental illness is a factor in ASB - and according to research carried out by this manager’s organisation over the course of last year, 49 per cent of cases involved mental illness in some way - social services are the agency that landlords have to work with. It’s not always an easy relationship.

‘We are not experts in dealing with mental illness,’ the ASB manager continues. ‘I do realise [social services’] workload. I realise the pressure they are under. What I’d like to see is for them to work closer with housing professionals - we might be able to help them with their workload.’

For most respondents, however, the recession looms first and foremost. The amount of funding landlords are directing towards ASB has risen significantly over the past few years (see box: splashing the cash), while around one-third say they plan to provide more training for their staff. Whether or not the recession actually increases the caseload on landlords’ ASB teams, the sector’s capabilities in this area look set to improve.

See the full results of the survey