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Anti Social Behaviour Policy September 2008 Adactus Housing Association

1. Policy Statement

The Association will not tolerate anti-social behaviour in the neighbourhoods where it operates and will use a variety of measures to prevent anti-social behaviour occurring, including: providing effective trained staff empowered to deliver services; provision of robust procedures and monitoring systems; preventative and diversionary approaches and the use of support in-conjunction with effective enforcement action. The Association aims to be responsive to the needs of residents and to treat all complaints and reports regarding anti-social behaviour seriously and to take effective action to remedy complaints. We will work in partnership with residents, agencies such as other Housing providers, the Police and local authorities, to ensure this is achieved. We will make effective use of our own resources internally, across departments, such as the efficient use of budgets and planning of resources to target areas where they are most needed.

The Association’s staff and contractors have the right to undertake their duties without fear of threats or intimidation. The Association has adopted a ‘zero tolerance’ approach and will take appropriate action to address any instances. of threats, abuse or violence towards its staff or contractors

2. Aims By having an effective Policy and Procedure for Anti- Social Behaviour this relates to our corporate objectives:

• Increase resident satisfaction: achieve a 4 percentage point increase in resident satisfaction with overall service by 31 March 2011 (average across the group)

• Help improve neighbourhoods: increase neighbourhood satisfaction within the neighbourhoods we operate in by 31 March 2011

3. Scope

This Policy relates to:

• Residents (of all tenure)

• All sections of the community

• Association staff and contractors

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4. Links to other policies and strategies

The Anti-Social Behaviour Policy & Procedure links with other Association policies, including: Racial Harassment & Hate Crime Policy & Procedure Domestic Abuse Policy & Procedure Starter Tenancies Procedure Equality and Diversity Policy & Strategy Repairs and Maintenance Procedures Lettings & Allocations Policy & Procedure Asset Management Strategy Media Strategy

5. Context

There are requirements upon the Association to provide Policy & Procedures to deal with Anti-Social Behaviour in order to:

• Comply with regulatory requirements

• Meet Government expectations on community cohesion and worklessness

• Meet legal obligations, for example, compliance with Disability Discrimination Act 1995 and the Crime & Disorder Act 1998.

• Meet the requirements of new legislation, including the Housing and Regeneration Bill (2008) and the Policing Green Paper

• Meet the requirements of the ‘Respect’ agenda

• Meet obligations with partner agencies

• Meet increased customer expectations

• Meet demand for neighbourhood management

• Remain competitive as a business

6. Our Approach

The Association has a commitment to taking effective action to deal with anti-social behaviour and adopts a triple track approach of Prevention, Enforcement and Support to achieve this. To this end, we will use a combination of approaches including preventative action as well as enforcement action to deal with anti social behaviour, in conjunction with our partner agencies and residents. The Association has signed up to the Government’s ‘Respect’ agenda as part of this commitment. We work jointly with partner agencies to deliver our commitments and through engaging with residents in the communities in which we work. Examples of our approach are:

• Prevention and Early Intervention: We will carry out pre-tenancy work to identify support needs at an early stage; we will ensure we appropriately let and that tenants fully understand the terms of the Tenancy Agreement and make use of Starter Tenancies. Early intervention in the use of Mediation services, Acceptable Behaviour Contracts (ABCs); Parenting Contracts; early

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referral to, and use of, Support Services and use of Annual Tenancy visits to identify issues

• Effective use of budgets and resources: designing out crime; use of scheme and estate inspections to identify maintenance and environmental issues

• Diversionary activities: We will work with other partners and residents to introduce diversionary activities within the communities where we hold stock, for example support to resident group initiatives and community events; delivery of sport schemes in holiday periods;

• Rehabilitation; We will refer tenants to drug and alcohol agencies as a means to resolve tenancy issues and sustain tenancies;

• Support: We will refer and work with Tenancy Support services to enable tenants to maintain their tenancies. We will support victims through a variety of means, including practical support and referral to support networks and the provision of out of hours ASB reporting service

• Enforcement: We will use appropriately the number of remedies available to the Association, including use of Injunctions, Demotion of Tenancies, Possession proceedings. We will work with LA’s and other agencies to secure Parenting Orders, Anti-Social Behaviour Orders and make use of other statutory powers available such as Noise Abatement Notices;

• Partnership Working: We will engage in local Crime & Disorder Partnerships and other multi agency working to deliver joint initiatives. We will actively work with residents through our Resident Involvement section and Area based Housing Management teams on a wide variety of initiatives to help build confident, cohesive communities, for example the development of Good Neighbour Agreements.

Responsibilities to deliver: Operations Director (Housing Management): Performance monitoring; Reports to Board; Decision Making; Regional Managers - Performance at Area Offices; Implementation of Policy & Procedure; Guidance, support and decision making Neighbourhood Services Managers – Performance monitoring; support and decision making Housing Officers - Adherence to policy and procedure; day to day management and support of individual cases Customer Service Staff – Early identification of potential problems in their role as front line staff; first point of contact for most customers Other frontline staff (eg Maintenance) – Early identification of potential problems in their role as front line staff

7. Service Standards The following outlines the service our customers can expect when reporting anti-social behaviour to the Association.

• On receipt of a complaint of nuisance/anti-social behaviour contact will be made with the complainant within one working day. An Action Plan will be agreed with the complainant within 5 working days.

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• In serious cases or if violence is involved we will respond in 24 hours.

• If the complaint is regarding racial harassment, hate crime or domestic violence this will be treated urgently and we will contact the complainant within 24 hours and agree an Action Plan.

• Remove racist and other offensive graffiti on Association property within 24 hours.

• We will keep in touch with complainants regularly, as agreed in the Action Plan made with the complainant.

• We will provide out of hours reporting for ASB cases.

8. Confidentiality/Data

We will treat all information we receive from customers in relation to this policy in confidence and will seek customers consent before sharing any information. There are some instances where we are obliged to share information with a third party due to legal requirements. We may share information regarding ASB with other partners as part of our engagement in Crime & Disorder Reduction Partnerships under information sharing arrangements, for example for the purpose of preventing anti-social behaviour or where there are child protection or vulnerable adults’ protection issues. 9. Approach to Multi-Agency Working

We will adopt a multi-agency approach in delivering this Policy to ensure that we make the best use of resources and skills and to ensure that we meet the aims of the Policy. We will contribute to cross-tenure approaches at a strategic level through multi-agency working with Crime & Disorder Reduction partnerships and other relevant agencies.

10. Complaints and Appeals

Any complaints about failure to follow this policy and/or associated procedure or about the way a customer has been treated in relation to this policy or procedure will be dealt with through the Association’s Compliment, comments, complaints and Appeals Policy and Procedure

11. Equality and Diversity

An impact assessment has been carried out on this Policy and Procedure. Areas identified as possible adversely affecting customers related to combating pre-conceived ideas on: sexual orientation; gender re-alignment and Gypsies and Travellers. This will be addressed through staff training. Monitoring of groups affected by ASB will be also used to attempt to identify issues of discrimination.

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12. Monitoring and Evaluation

The Association undertakes to record and monitor all cases of anti-social behaviour reported to it. This will be done through a variety of means, including:

• Recording of complaints on a database and case files

• Close management of cases, including regular reviews with officers and the use of reports to monitor and track cases

• Satisfaction questionnaires to customers at the close of each case

• Use of feedback from customers to develop and improve service provision

Date approved by Board 29th September 2008 Date for Board review September 2009