The Social Landlords Crime and Nuisance Group (SLCNG) has called on Government to recognise the pivotal role of social landlords and tenants in tackling antisocial behaviour.
As reform proposals are progressed, the SLCNG is also asking Government to ensure that the new regime does not diminish the ability of landlords to manage their estates and individual tenancies, in addition to addressing antisocial behaviour in the community.
Responding to the Government's consultation - More Effective Responses To Antisocial Behaviour - the SLCNG has pledged its support for the consultation's objectives and offered its services in developing the reforms further.
In doing so, the SLCNG expressed some misgiving that change on the scale proposed brings with it a degree of uncertainty that the outcomes sought may not all be delivered in practice.
In this context it draws attention to the experiences in former years regarding the Antisocial Behaviour Order (ASBO) and the Anti Social Behaviour Injunction (ASBI), which evidence a seeming inevitability of the utility and success of new Injunctive remedies being unpredictable until the higher courts have considered them for the first time.
Central to the SLCNG's concerns is the proposal to repeal the existing ASBI, which is used extensively by landlords and is proven to be highly effective. Worried that this proposal may prejudice the ability of landlords to tackle antisocial behaviour, protect people from harm and remove landlords' ability to take action against non tenant third parties in the interests of the local community, the SLCNG advocates that the ASBI is retained in its current form.
The SLCNG's key recommendations to government include that it should:
Antisocial behaviour is a huge problem for communities across the UK. The Home Office's antisocial behaviour team recently completed an indepth scrutiny of government policy. Its review confirmed that police and councils would retain responsibility for dealing with anti-social behaviour.
This is the background to an online poll, carried out by and published in the Guardian's housingnetworkblog, which asked 'Are social landlords and residents better placed to tackle antisocial behaviour than the police and councils?'
The final count shows 45% answering - Yes: antisocial behaviour is a community-specific problem. Social landlords and residents are in a unique position to work together.
A slighty higher percentage of 55% answered - No: the police have a proven track-record. Local communities and organisations simply do not have the knowledge and should leave it to the experts!