Crime Reduction - Helping to Reduce Crime in Your Area

Providers of social housing have an increasing role, alongside other partners, to combat anti-social behaviour. Housing managers can, and in many cases do, play a crucial role in combating problems associated with drug use through efforts to regenerate neighbourhoods, dealing with anti-social behaviour and supporting the provision of effective treatment outcomes for individual drug users.

Title: Tackling drug use in rented housing - A good practice guide
Authors: Home Office in conjunction with DTLR
Number of pages: 74
Date published: 2002
Availability: Download full document PDF 550Kb

Some aspects of drug-related anti-social behaviour are straightforward: use of drugs on stairwells and other public areas, discarded needles and other drug-related paraphernalia, and open dealing from properties or public spaces. Other activities are not so clearly drug-related, such as crime against property, groups of young people congregating in public spaces, prostitution and mugging.

Members of the local community, including those who live and work on an estate or neighbourhood, should be fully involved in the planning and implementation of any initiatives. Efforts should be made to ensure that consultation is representative and actively involves all members of the community. This should include proactive steps to consult with minority ethnic communities, young people, lesbians and gay men, and drug users.

Efforts to combat drug-related problems in rented housing should include

• integration of drug strategies into regeneration programmes

• physical improvements – designing out drug use

• planned action against supply

• housing management that is responsive to drug use

• work with young people

• close co-operation between partners

Some estates are so badly damaged by unemployment and anti-social behaviour, including drugs, that a programme of economic and social regeneration needs to take place. A comprehensive package of measures should include physical improvements which will in turn impact on drug use and especially supply

• Street lighting

• CCTV

• Security to buildings

• Creation of defensible space

• Opening up of secluded properties

• Demolition of some properties

• Construction of new improved properties or major improvements to older properties.

The behaviour of some individuals can adversely affect others. Landlords should consider action to prevent anti-social behaviour, including

• mediation

• injunctions

• Acceptable Behaviour Contracts

• Anti-Social Behaviour Orders

As part of this Housing Plus approach, and taking forward Best Value, social landlords need to work effectively with other key agencies (e.g. police, youth and social services), other landlords and the members of the community. Good inter-agency working means a commitment from each agency based on protocols covering information sharing and confidentiality issues.

There are a number of successful examples of floating support services aimed at supporting drug-using tenants in maintaining their tenancies. Having social landlords work closely with drug agencies delivers a number of benefits to the individual, community and landlord:

• Reduction in rent arrears

• Less damage to properties

• Reduction in anti-social behaviour

• Reduction in the number of evictions

• Reduction in the number of abandoned properties

• More successful treatment outcomes

To find out more about how housing managers and registered social landlords can help cut drug-related crime and anti-social behaviour, download "Tackling Drugs in Rented Accomodation" by Ian Robertson and Kevin Flemen of Release, in full PDF 550Kb