APPENDIX 1
NFDC Housing Landlord
ASB Strategy 2025-2029
Contents
What is Housing related Anti-Social Behaviour?
Community Safety Partnerships review and Anti-Social Behaviour Powers
Safer Neighbourhoods standards
Tenant Satisfaction Measures Standards (TSMs)
Tenant Satisfaction Measure Data
Why this is important for New Forest Resident Services & Tenants
Our Current Approach to ASB & Neighbour Nuisance
Our vision and strategy are built on 4 Strategic priorities
Managing risk and supporting victims
Prevention & early intervention
Prevention & early intervention
Managing risk and supporting victims
Annexe 1: Strategy Action Plan
Priority 1, Prevention & early intervention
Priority 2, Managing risk and supporting victims
Priority 3, Work in partnership
Priority 4, Putting tenants first
Foreword
I am delighted to introduce this new Housing Landlord Anti-Social Behaviour (ASB) Strategy for New Forest District Council’s (NFDC) housing tenants.
We understand the negative impact ASB can have on our communities and on individual residents. No-one should live in fear of intimidation from neighbours or others from within their street/ neighbourhoods. Too often ASB is referred to as a 'low level' crime or behaviour that should just be tolerated. Police, local authorities, and community agencies all have responsibilities to tackle ASB by working together to help victims.
Whilst no single organisation holds the key to resolving or preventing ASB, this strategy lays down the Council’s Housing Service’s commitments to take steps towards preventing ASB, supporting victims of ASB, investigating ASB and when necessary, ensuring that we have the necessary mechanisms in place to take rigorous action as a landlord.
ASB is not solely an issue for our tenants, but it is important that we acknowledge our role as the largest social housing provider in the district and the responsibilities we have for keeping our tenants safe and well in their homes. This strategy builds on the work already undertaken in our district through effective community safety partnership arrangements, including the longstanding and effective work of the Safer New Forest Partnership.
I am pleased therefore that this strategy aims to deliver 4 key priorities which will raise the profile of our work to prevent and tackle ASB but is also victim centered and has a clear commitment to continuous improvement and enhancing partnership working.
[insert photo and signature]
Councillor Steve Davies
Portfolio Holder for Housing Services
Introduction
This strategy responds to a changing legislative and regulatory landscape, as well as feedback from our residents on how we have managed previous reports of ASB, and how living though ASB feels to our residents.
The Regulator for Social Housing has led the implementation of a new regulatory regime, including a tenants’ charter and consumer standards which provide clear guidance on the role of landlords. In response to these changes and the feedback from our residents the Council has developed a strategy to deliver effective prevention and support initiatives.
As the largest landlord in the district NFDC has a significant role to play in managing our estates and neighbourhoods to ensure that they are a safe and welcoming environment and one where we encourage harmony to all our residents. In doing this we must continue to develop preventative measures and early intervention measures to prevent ASB occurring and escalating.
This strategy sets out the Council’s priorities to preventing and responding to ASB, building on the longstanding work of the Safer New Forest Partnership, which will continue to take a strategic overview of Crime and ASB within the New Forest District involving all our partners and commissioned services, including the Council’s landlord services.
As a landlord, we are responsible for supporting our tenants who may be victims of Anti-Social Behaviour as well as taking swift and effective action where a perpetrator is our tenant.
Our primary funding is from the Housing Revenue Account, which via income from tenants’ rents funds all housing related services and facilities. Therefore, any service relating to Anti-Social Behaviour must primarily be for the benefit of our own tenants or related to our housing management functions.
What is Housing related Anti-Social Behaviour?
Housing Related ASB is defined as activity that affects our housing management functions.
Anti-Social Behaviour (ASB) is a term which covers a broad range of issues and there are several definitions for it. The general agreement is that it is defined as 'anything causing a nuisance or annoyance.'
Definition:
The Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Police Act 2014 Part 1 section 2 defines the meaning of ASB as:
a) conduct that has caused, or is likely to cause, harassment, alarm, or distress to any person,
(b) conduct capable of causing nuisance or annoyance to a person in relation to that person’s occupation of residential premises, or
(c) conduct capable of causing housing-related nuisance or annoyance to any person.
National context
There is considerable emphasis placed on the Police, Councils and Housing providers by Central Government on ASB and the methods used to tackle it. This focus began in 1998 via the Crime and Policing Act with the introduction of Anti-Social Behaviour Orders (ASBOs). The Crime and Policing Act described ASB as “Causing or likely to cause harassment, alarm, or distress to one or more person not of the same household as the perpetrator.”
In 2003 Central Government set up the Anti-Social Behaviour unit, launched the Anti-Social Behaviour Together action plan and introduced the Anti-Social Behaviour Act 2003. The accompanying guidance outlined the process for tackling ASB via respect and responsibility. It provided Local Authorities and the Police with a wider and more flexible range of powers to meet their existing responsibilities.
From a social housing perspective, the changes included developing the use of injunctions and demoted tenancies. It included provisions to deal with noise nuisance and introduced closure powers on premises that were being used for drug dealing, it defined ASB to ensure reports were acted upon, as well as stressing the importance of collecting data on ASB and using this to support any community response.
In 2014 The ASB Crime and Policing Act was introduced with the aim of providing simpler, more effective powers to tackle ASB, that would provide better protection for victims and communities. This Act split the definition of ASB to cover the different legal tools available to both the Police and Local Authorities. The Definition under Section 1 of the act became widely recognised by Housing Providers as the definition for Anti-Social Behaviour. Statutory guidance was published in 2019 which focused on the importance of tackling the impact of Anti-Social behaviour and the effect this has on victims and on victim’s needs.
In 2022 National Government published five ASB principles, which are:
1. Victims should be encouraged to report Anti-Social Behaviour and expect to be taken seriously. They should have clear ways to report, have access to help and support to recover, and be given the opportunity to choose restorative approaches to tackling ASB.
2. Agencies will have clear and transparent processes to ensure that victims can report ASB concerns, can understand how the matter will be investigated and are kept well informed of progress once a report is made.
3. Agencies and practitioners will work across boundaries to identify, assess and tackle ASB and its underlying causes. Referral pathways should be clearly set out between services and published locally. This includes pathways for the ASB case review and health services.
4. The public’s ASB concerns should always be considered both nationally and locally in strategic needs assessments for community safety. Best practice should be shared through a network of ASB experts within each community safety partnership, each policing area and nationally.
5. Adults and children who exhibit ASB should have the opportunity to take responsibility for their behaviour and repair the harm caused by it. Agencies should deliver appropriate interventions, which may include criminal justice options, based on the seriousness, risks and vulnerabilities of the case.
5.
In March 2023, the national government set out a new approach to working with local agencies to tackle ASB across England and Wales including:
· Increasing the urgency ASB is responded to.
· Changing laws and system to take a zero-tolerance approach to ASB, cracking down on illegal drugs such as cuckooing.
· Increasing Police and other agencies’ tools to discourage ASB, such as higher on the spot fines, increase in youth support and filling empty shops and regenerating local parks.
In November 2024 the introduction of “Respect Orders” was announced by the Home Secretary– aiming to address persistent ASB. These new orders will replace existing Civil Injunction powers for adults and introduce tough restrictions on offenders, including bans from certain areas and mandated rehabilitation programmes. Breaches will be criminal offences, enforceable with arrests and potentially leading to significant penalties. The government is presenting this as a robust response to ASB, with stronger powers to seize nuisance vehicles and tackle repeat offenders.
Community Safety Partnerships review and Anti-Social Behaviour Powers
As Part of the ASB Action Plan national government ran a consultation between March and May 2023 which included a focus on how existing ASB Powers could be improved and expanded. The consultation concluded that respondents felt that expanding the powers in the Anti-Social Behaviours, Crime and Policing Act 2014 would ensure they are used more frequently and consistently to tackle ASB.
Regulatory Framework
Following the tragic event at Grenfell Towers in 2017 the government introduced The Charter for Social Housing Residents – Social Housing White Paper 2020 with the aim to make sure social housing tenants are treated with the respect they deserve. Within this it states that “social housing tenants are more likely to experience anti-social behaviour and be victims of crime than those in other tenures.”
The paper introduced 7 new commitments, of which 3 of these relate directly to Housing providers’ responsibilities to ASB.
Chapter 2sets out the requirements for tenants to know how their landlord is performing, setting out new tenant satisfaction measures (TSMs) including how satisfied they are with how their landlord has manged their Anti-Social Behaviour case. Landlord performance data will be published in national league tables allowing for tenants to make meaningful comparisons to be made across the sector for the first time.
Chapter 3sets out the requirements to have complaints dealt with promptly and fairly, with access to a strong ombudsman.
Chapter 6sets out the requirements for tenants to have good quality homes and neighbourhoods to live in, within this, landlords must set out to tackle Anti-Social behaviour by enabling tenants to know who is responsible for actioning their reports and who can support and assist them if they are faced with Anti-Social behaviour.
Landlords must also make a positive contribution to the neighbourhood working with local partners and stakeholders.
The Regulator of Social Housing launched its new regulatory framework on 1 April 2024. The Regulatory standards relating to ASB are contained in within the Customer Standards including Neighbourhood and Community Standards, Tenant Involvement and Empowerment Standard and the Tenants Satisfaction Measure Standards, which stipulate:
Safer Neighbourhoods standards
· Registered providers must have a policy on how they work with relevant organisations to deter and tackle ASB in the neighbourhoods where they provide social housing.
· Registered providers must clearly set out their approach for how they tackle and deter hate incidents in neighbourhoods where they provide social housing.
· Registered providers must enable ASB to be reported easily and keep tenants informed about the progress of their case.
· Registered providers must provide prompt and appropriate action in response to ASB, having regard to the full range of tools and legal powers available to them.
· Registered providers must support tenants who are affected by ASB, including by signposting them to agencies who can give them appropriate support and assistance.
Tenant Satisfaction Measures Standards (TSMs)
· Registered providers must collect and provide information to support effective scrutiny by tenants of their landlord’s performance in managing their homes and neighbourhoods.
This places a requirement on landlords to publish performance on the number of ASB cases relative to the size of the landlord (NM01) and 'How satisfied or dissatisfied tenants are with New Forest Director Council’s approach to handling Anti-Social Behaviour.
Housing Ombudsman Services
The Regulator of Social Housing & Housing Ombudsman Service has strengthened their investigative approach, and their response to failings. With failings identified by the Ombudsman leading to real change expected by the Regulator.
Landlords have been notified of the increase in expected standards in a series of special reports from the Housing Ombudsman, who have published landlord complaints where evidence of maladministration has been found, with a large focus on ASB complaints.
The Housing Ombudsman continue to publish spotlight reports on common failings within the sector including:
· The Ombudsman’s Spotlight on Noise complaints report (October 2022)
· The Ombudsman’s Spotlight on Knowledge and Information Management report (May 2023)
· The Ombudsman’s Spotlight on Attitudes, respect, and rights (January 2024)
The spotlight report on noise complaints made 32 recommendations to tackle the issue, including looking at refurbishment, neighbourhood management and anti-social behaviour policies, allocations and record-keeping, information-sharing, and complaint handling.
Local context
What we know
Stock and Tenancy Type
The council remains the largest provider of housing within the district, managing a stock of over 5,250 socially rented homes. Following the introduction of the Localism Act 2012 and NFDC Tenancy Policy, NFDC no longer routinely offers a secure lifetime tenancy to all tenants. All new tenants will normally be granted an initial Introductory Tenancy. This will usually be followed by a flexible tenancy, referred to as a fixed term tenancy (normally lasting a minimum of 5 years). This period of time provides the Council and tenants the appropriate time to assess if they can sustain and conduct their tenancy in line with tenancy conditions. Should acts of ASB be carried out the Council can seek to end either the introductory tenancy or not offer an additional fixed term tenancy.
NFDC provides temporary housing and a private sector lease scheme which is let to homeless households or to prevent homelessness. We are responsible for managing these tenancies and ensuring tenants are supported to keep to the terms of their agreements, whilst awaiting permanent offers of accommodation to be made.
ASB Data
Improvements in how we collect our ASB data were introduced in 2023 and this has allowed us to benchmark our performance.
A review of 2022/23 ASB reports from tenants showed 136 reported
cases of Anti-Social Behaviour, which represents 26 cases per 1,000
homes. 
2023/24 showed an increase to 160 reported cases of Anti-Social
Behaviour, which represents 31 cases per 1,000 homes.
Further analysis of last year’s data (see below) shows that behaviour and noise were the two most reported issues. It is important that we continue to track the types of reports to identify any trends and use this to improve and shape our service.
Tenant Satisfaction Measure Data
Through late 2023 and early 2024 tenants were invited to take part in the tenant perception measure survey as part of the new regulatory performance regime. Overall satisfaction with the housing landlord was received at 81%, and tenants were further asked, ‘how satisfied or dissatisfied are you with New Forest District Council’s approach to handling Anti-Social Behaviour’. 63% tenants of tenants surveyed answered this question. Overall satisfaction with the handling of ASB cases was 62% and when benchmarked with 52 other registered providers the Council’s performance was considered slightly above average.
The tenants who answered that they were either fairly dissatisfied or very dissatisfied were asked a supplementary question on ‘why would you say you are dissatisfied?’ 3.2% of respondents answered the question.
Common themes of comments received were:
· Tenant incident forms being completed but not responded to or actioned.
· Reports about neighbours not taken seriously.
· Perceived lack of joint working from the Police or Police action
Safer New Forest Partnership
District wide anti-social behaviour data is tracked in partnership with Hampshire Police under the stewardship of the Safer New Forest Partnership strategic assessment.
As a result, the plan identifies 3 priorities for 2024-2025:
1. Drug and alcohol related harm
2. Domestic Abuse
3. Tackling crime, fear or crime through education, prevention, and enforcement
Under the 2024-2025 Strategic assessment ASB is categorised into three main types:
1. Personal
2. Community
3. Environmental
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01/04/2023 – 31/03/2024 |
01/04/2022 - 31/03/2023 |
Variation
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New Forest East |
569 |
640 |
- 71 |
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New Forest West |
478 |
705 |
-227 |
The table shows an overall decrease of 22% in reported incidents of ASB compared with that of the previous year 2022/2023.
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New Forest continue to see a reduction in reported ASB. Below shows a 56% decrease in reported ASB from 01/04/2019 to 31/03/2024 (2400 incidents to 1047 incidents).
This data needs to be treated with caution, as whilst it shows an overall reduction in the recorded incidents occurring, it may also show a reduction in the level of incidents reported. This could be a result of tolerances or confidence in services ability to resolve ASB.
Why this is important for New Forest Resident Services & Tenants
As ASB is often primarily referred to as a ‘local concern’. We will need to recognise ASB will fundamentally look and feel different in every area of The New Forest and a one size fits all approach will therefore not work for victims.
The New Forest is a large district which is mainly rural with urbanised areas in Totton and Hythe to the east, Lymington and New Milton on the southern coast and Ringwood in the west. These areas hold 73% of the district population. A further 16% of the population live in rural towns and fringe areas, whilst the remaining 11% are in rural villages.
As the people most likely to be victims of ASB tend to live in more deprived communities we need to look more closely at these areas. Overall, New Forest has a low level of deprivation. It was ranked 240 out of 317 local authority districts across England (where rank 1 had the highest level of deprivation). However, there are small areas of deprivation within the district, with pockets of higher levels of deprivation located in Totton, areas near to Hythe, Lymington, and New Milton. The New Forest ranks similar to the Hampshire average when looking at income deprivation affecting children.
Social demographics and personal circumstances are a key factor in influencing the scale of impact of ASB experienced by individuals. Examples being that those with long term physical or mental health conditions are more likely to have experiences or witness ASB to those without the same conditions. Social demographics will include different genders, housing tenures, age, and vulnerability such as physical and/or mental health conditions.
Taking the example of age. The New Forest has one of the lowest population densities across English local authorities, but the New Forest has seen an increase in the average age of the population from 47 to 51 years of age, with a 19.9% increase in people aged between 65 and 74 years.
Research on the impact on individual and community by central government has shown that age was key in determining views when determining the perception of ASB. The youngest age group (those aged 18 to 34) being more likely to feel that ASB is a ‘very big’ or ‘fairly big’ problem in their local area (57%) than those aged 35 to 54 (50%) and those aged 55 and over (34%). This was despite the 18 to 34 age group being more likely to interpret ASB as ‘normal’ behaviour.
Interventions identified with our strategy will pay close attention the social demographic profile in the New Forest and effectively target and support groups who may be disproportionately impacted by ASB.
Tracking data
We continue to make improvements in how to track and record vulnerabilities. Our social housing tenant demographic data survey is not yet fully complete as of November 2024. This data collection exercise is well underway during 24/25 will obtain key personal data important to designing services.
Staff feedback received on ASB cases is that we continue to see increased levels of vulnerabilities in casework, and this will need to be reviewed in line with the recommendation made in the housing ombudsman spotlight report on attitudes, respect, and rights – relationship of equals.
A significant amount of our housing stock is found in our urbanised areas and the more deprived areas of The New Forest. A majority of our ASB reports will continue to be reported from these traditional built-up areas and our response will therefore need to be primarily focused to these areas. We do however need to recognise the rural landscape of The New Forest where we also hold housing stock in more sparsely populated rural areas such as Martin, Sway, Burley, Calshot and Bransgore - which will have a different local perception to ASB.
Corporate Plan 2024-2028
Our tenants and the communities they live in are an ongoing priority for this council, which is supported by the themes in our Corporate Plan 2024-2028. NFDC is keen to promote opportunities to gather feedback from our tenants through the delivery of a new Tenant Engagement Strategy and our annual residents’ survey, as we look to continually improve and evolve our services.
The new corporate plan priority themes are People, Place and Prosperity. Consultation to develop the Corporate Plan involved a residents’ survey which was conducted between 8 September 2022 and November 2022. Of the 760 interviewed nearly all (96%) respondents stated they felt very/fairly safe in their local area, however nearly a quarter of the respondents reported their quality of life was affected by the fear of crime. This indicated that whilst the people feel safe there is an increased perception of crime and disorder, leading to anxiety and adjustments with daily life.
Our Current Approach to ASB & Neighbour Nuisance
The Council is committed to sustaining tenancies with our Tenancy Policy making the commitment that, ‘The council will make every reasonable effort to support tenants to sustain their tenancy, that they do not get into rent arrears or carry out acts of Anti-Social Behaviour. The majority of tenants will simply require the provision of information and advice; however, some tenants may require more support.
Our current preventative measures include:
· Use of Introductory Tenancies – all first-time council tenants are given an introductory tenancy.
· Use of Flexible Tenancies – these are secure tenancies for a fixed term period. If the tenant fails to keep to the terms of their tenancy, including carrying out ASB, we may not offer a further tenancy on its expiry.
· Settling in visits – taking place with 3 months and 9 months of an introductory tenant to emphasise tenant obligations, support, and vulnerabilities.
· Regular estate visits and block inspections.
· Attending strategic partnership meetings such as New Forest Drug Related Harm Forum and the New Forest District Tactical Planning Group to ensure there is adequate focus and resources directed toward tackling ASB.
We have traditionally taken a low tolerance approach to nuisance and ASB. This is one where we take an active lead in identifying and speaking to all the affected parties. This approach has resulted in a quick and prompt response but also one where we are inadvertently quick to label tenants as perpetrators, or sometimes we can incorrectly identify clear ‘one on one’ neighbour disputes, as ASB. Our involvement in these cases can sometimes have an unintended consequence of increasing tensions or worsening the relationship between neighbours.
Comments received via the recent TMS survey are also observed in officer casework where there is an overuse of log sheets for residents to log and evidence neighbour nuisance or ASB, as opposed to greater emphasis being placed on encouraging good communication between neighbours and the use of early intervention tools. It is important that we continue to offer safe and effective communication between residents (which is a powerful tool for tackling ASB and can be successful in preventing further escalation). We need to ensure through clear policy guidance and staff training that we effectively advise and provide tenants with a range of options around their reports.
A significant proportionof the reports NFDC receives relate to one-on-one neighbour nuisance and noise disputes. These are sometimes the most challenging issues to resolve as often these cases will not meet the thresholds for formal legal intervention. The fact that they are being reported to us shows that they are important to our tenants, that they have a detrimental effect on them and that they are seeking our advice and support. The introduction of a Good Neighbourhood Management Policy to sit alongside any ASB Policy will provides a clear separation between the two issues. We need to be clear how they can help the situation and what help we can provide, including the continued provision of mediation services to try to resolve disputes before they escalate.
Other common themes noted are the security of our blocks, including older, less secure communal entry doors which do not have electronic fob access, and which allow visitors to contribute to existing ASB issues.
Achievements to date
· Publication of a new Tenant engagement strategy in April 2024.
· Newly created ASB Manager post in 2023 and wider resources review ensuring we have the necessary resources identified to tackle ASB.
· Restructure of the Neighbourhood and Estate Management team and the creation of a dedicated Neighbourhood & ASB services (3x Full time Neighbourhood officers and 1.5 full time neighbourhood assistants)
· New ICT Housing Management Systems (HMS) developed and launched in February 2023 to support case management and data collection.
· Redefining sub-categories of reports to allow for greater analysis of trends.
· Regulator of social housing learning and internal knowledge sharing applied to processes and disseminated to housing employees.
· Digital consultation platform implementation to allow targeted consultation to different tenant groups.
· Updated procedures and staff guidance.
Our vision and strategy are built on 4 Strategic priorities.
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Our vision is one where all cases of ASB and reported problems between neighbours are responded to, with clear actions agreed with the complainants.
The definition of ASB has a low threshold, and what can cause or is likely to cause a nuisance or annoyance can be subjective to the person making the report.
Given the risks attached to ASB the Council’s Officers will follow a harm-based approach towards ASB so that the most serious behaviour, which has the greatest impact on people’s lives, is prioritised, tackled and solutions are found. The Social Housing Regulator’s view on ASB is clear and they want housing providers to also take a victim-based approach when responding to reports of ASB and in doing this we need to identify those more vulnerable to ASB and ensure their needs are considered and supported. This is sometimes also referred to as 'human centric' and involves seeing people as the most important thing.
Our data concludes that the majority of ASB or reported cases of annoyance or nuisance will not lead to 'high harm'.
In cases of that do not meet the threshold for ASB intervention, residents will continue to be provided with the access to the appropriate advice and tools so that they as neighbours can work together to resolve their differences.
To ensure this happens we will provide a robust assessment of all ASB and reported problems between neighbours to identify not only the nature of the behaviour and the causes, but also to identify at an early-stage cases of neighbour nuisance or disagreements which are not to be classified as ASB but may still impact residents’ lives.
In cases of ASB, when the need for formal intervention is required by the Council, we will take a risk-based approach, assessing both the risk to the victims and their wishes. By assessing cases of ASB we will be able provide the flexible and tailored response to cases of ASB that the regulator and residents expect.
We want residents to take pride in the estates, neighbourhoods, towns, and villages that they live in. To support this, we aim to increase resources and funding, from existing budgets, to tackle ASB and nuisance, to improve our neighbourhoods and estates and other decent neighbourhood projects as well as working with diversionary projects.
These priorities are aiming for real, meaningful impact for both tenants and NFDC services. Our priorities will be reviewed periodically by both tenants and colleagues to make sure outcomes are being achieved and powers can be flexed up and down depending on what our tenants tell us as we progress with implementation.
Strategic Priority 1
Prevention & early intervention
One of the most effective tools to resolving ASB is to be proactive in preventing ASB in the first place, as well as responding early to reports to stop issues escalating.
We will:
· Develop a strategic approach to ASB and community cohesion (communication over conflict), developing a new ASB Policy and a ‘Good Neighbourhood’ Policy
· Increase awareness of what ASB is and what services are available.
· Increase awareness of what a hate crime is through the introduction of a Hate Crime Policy and Procedure.
· Increase awareness of Domestic Abuse through NFDC’s Domestic Abuse Strategy and a Housing Landlord Domestic Abuse Policy & Procedure.
· Complete a self-assessment and respond to the Housing Ombudsman spotlight report on noise nuisance.
· Continuously review our ASB procedure to ensure it provides a fast response and remains focused on early intervention.
· Strengthen our existing messaging on ASB and make it clear what is a breach of tenancy and the likely consequences.
· Continue our close and effective partnership working arrangements.
· Review the current service provision around tenancy support and the support provided to alleged perpetrators of ASB.
· Ensure data and intelligence is shared between agencies to flag patterns of behaviour, crime & disorder and ASB via Community Partnership Forms (CPIs)
· Continue to review all associated documentation (letters, action plans, website) to ensure that there is a clear and consistent message delivered, with a real focus on prevention and resolution.
· Review our processes around managing our neighbourhood and communal areas so that we promote environmental sustainability and tenant engagement through improvements to communal areas and neighbourhoods.
· Empower our communities and tenants not to tolerate ASB and how to safely challenge and report incidents.
· Prevent ASB where possible through timely and appropriate interventions such as sending warning letters, offering mediation, and using acceptable behaviour contracts.
· Complete a review of communal entry door security as part of our stock condition surveys and maintenance programs.
Strategic Priority 2:
Managing risk and supporting victims
ASB can leave victims feeling unsafe and afraid in their own home, often leaving them with the feeling that no one is listening. The ‘person’ needs to be at the centre of our response.
We will:
· Review internal guidance and processes around recording tenant vulnerabilities.
· Address victim’s immediate needs and allow time to discuss long-term support while their cases are being investigated.
· Help victims understand the options they have and what actions we can take.
· Complete regular case reviews with victims, listening to victims needs and wishes.
· Seek feedback on ASB cases to give victims the opportunity to give feedback on services.
· Use Risk Assessments in cases of ASB and use this to tailor our individual approach.
· Ensure safeguarding issues are raised and shared between agencies.
· Continue to use sensitive lettings and placements to help manage our neighbourhoods.
· Continue to use the Management transfer procedure to support rehoming both victims and vulnerable tenants whose risks cannot be managed in situ.
· Using legal enforcement action where necessary, taking a robust approach to resolve ASB whilst ensuring any action is proportionate.
· Work in partnership with Victim Support.
Strategic Priority 3
Work in partnership
Police, local authorities, and community agencies, all have the responsibility to tackle anti-social behaviour by working together to help victims.
We will:
· Respond to serious or persistent cases of ASB under MARM (Multi Agency Risk Management) frameworks or other statutory meetings, such as Adult Safeguarding or Child protection.
· Review current practices and thresholds for support service access ensuring people do not fall through the gaps.
· Review how we manage our homelessness temporary accommodation with close interdepartmental relationships.
· Promote the use of ASB case reviews where complainants are experiencing persistent anti-social behaviour.
· Reviewing how well NFDC (Housing), NFDC (Community Safety) and the Police are reviewing cases and holding services to account for their actions.
· Develop a service level agreement with open spaces around the management of housing land, including residents’ involvement on how their open spaces are managed.
· Develop closer relationships with local policing teams across the district.
· Develop closer relationships with Hampshire Adults and Children Services, Mental Health Services and Probation – including the use of community pay back.
· Work closely with Environmental Protection to swifty investigate and resolve noise complaints.
· Work in partnership around any legal enforcement action.
Strategic Priority 4
Putting tenants first
Our service and response to ASB needs to be shaped by our residents as our tenants are best placed to tell us what is working well and what we can do better.
We will
· Ensure residents are at the forefront of shaping our response to ASB, neighbour disputes and their neighbourhoods.
· Ensure data analysis forms part of our proactive activities to improve our response to ASB and neighbour disputes.
· Ensure that the Tenancy Engagement Service are actively involved around any service improvement and receipt of feedback.
· Gain feedback on all closed cases of ASB and use lessons learnt from complaints to feed into service improvements.
· Identify the core skills and knowledge required to deliver an effective ASB service, and sourcing training that delivers this. As part of this exercise, it will be essential that training on safeguarding is recognised and included as core knowledge.
· Develop a staff essential training plan focusing on legal tools and powers to tackle Anti-Social Behaviour as well as training around Mental health, Drugs and Alcohol and Domestic Abuse.
· Review how we get out and about on our estates, and how we engage with residents and our elected members.
· Review the team structure to reflect best practice and current service need.
Monitoring and review
The outcomes of the strategy and the work programme will be under continual monitoring and review. Updates to Members and the Council’s Executive Management Team will be provided at least annually.
The tenant perception survey carried out each year will provide valuable insight in to how satisfied our tenants are around our response to ASB. It is accepted that there are some quick wins that can be implemented whilst other changes will take time.
Annex 1 allows us to flex our approach and timescales, but the aim will always be to achieve the priorities in this strategy before the end of 2028.
New actions and targets may be agreed if further changes are made to corporate objectives, national legislation, and policy. The focus on ASB is at the forefront of both the regulatory framework and political attention in both the national approach within criminal justice system and Policing system. It is likely that further legislation, guidance, and funding arrangements will continue to change over the next few years.
We are keen to understand the ongoing impact of Anti-Social Behaviour on our residents especially those victims who are vulnerable and live in more deprived areas. Our annual review will incorporate statistical and perception-based analysis of our ASB cases and impact on victims. This will enable us to be responsive in tackling any emerging issues.
The Portfolio Holder for Housing Services, working with the Housing Strategic and Assistant Directors, our Housing Service Managers and the Council’s Anti-Social Behaviour Manager will lead the review of the delivery action plan.
In reviewing its strategy annually this council remains committed to embracing amended policy direction and incorporating it within annual updates.
Measure of success
Our key measures of success will be quantitative:
- Improved satisfaction performance year on year following on from the initial set of Tenant Satisfaction Perception Survey in 23/24
- Improved satisfaction performance year on year when bench marked against similar sized landlords.
- Reduction in number of stage 1 and 2 complaints received from tenants relating to ASB compared with the 23/24 financial year.
- Increase in cases being successfully resolved year on year following outcome being recorded from 24/25.
Our key measures of success will be qualitative.
- By the end of the strategy period in 2028 tenants will have a clear voice under following implementation of the tenant engagement strategy. Tenants will tell us that they are able to directly influence and scrutinise out service.
- Learning from complaints and ASB case review will be embedded into service design and re-design.
- Tenants feedback on closed cases will be used to design and re-design the service.
- Streamlined process and access to more information and advice.