Gary tackles ASB to create safer neighbourhoods

Trivallis has a Anti-Social Behaviour (ASB) Working Group where members look at how they can improve the responses to ASB in communities, by working together to make changes to the process and procedures that are in place.

Gary said: “One of our first tasks was to look at the process of reporting ASB, to see if it was fit for purpose. The Neighbourhood Team all felt that the process was too long with too many stages before any actions were taken. The process also meant that the tenant would have to repeat their story on several occasions, that may cause more distress for the victims.

“The purpose of the meeting was to change this and to find a solution that would result in less stages in the process and less time taking to resolve the case. Then the tenant who was reporting the ASB could see action taking place much sooner.”

The ASB Working Group is made up of the Community Safety Team, Neighbourhood Managers, tenants, and Customer Involvement Team.

Gary explained: “As a whole, the group discussed what worked well with the current process and what didn’t. We rearranged the order or removed different stages to find a better fit. We had support from the Community Safety and Neighbourhood Team, who provided us with examples and their perspective.

“We worked together to analyse data, researched best practice from other housing associations and shared experiences to help us understand the impacts of ASB on tenants and our communities.”

The team came to a decision of what the new process would be, making it better for tenants and for Trivallis staff.

Gary said: “We agreed on a new procedure, allowing for the ASB to be reported in an easier way, with the contact centre gathering information and passing it onto Neighbourhood Managers who have a good relationship with tenants in their areas. We realised they would be the best people to deal with ASB in the first instance and could intervene earlier.

“We all felt that this would be a benefit for tenants as it would stop the victim having to repeat the report several times. It would be resolved much quicker and they would be supported by their Neighbourhood Manager who would be a familiar face. It also meant that the Community Safety Team would have more time to focus on the prevention of ASB and working in partnerships with others to make our communities a safer place to live.”

These changes are now being implemented in Trivallis’ working practices. The Community Safety and Neighbourhood Teams have already reported that this is a more efficient way of working but they are continuing to monitor the impact.

Lianne Bulford, Neighbourhoods Services Manager at Trivallis who Chairs the group, said: “Trivallis cannot tackle ASB in isolation. Over the last few months, myself and other members of staff have been working closely with tenants and residents in our ASB Working Group to review our current process and response to ASB. We have quickly identified several changes to improve our response to ASB and are monitoring the impact it is having as we implement them.

“Having tenants and residents involved, has been invaluable to the project. They have supported us to drive the changes and improve the services we deliver across RCT and Cardiff Bay. We equally shared our experiences to learn and understand real life impacts of ASB on tenants and communities, which helped us explore better outcomes and solutions to problem solve. We are all excited for the future because this is just the start of making significant changes to support communities to tackle ASB. We have lots of new ideas for the future and are working together to make communities safer and sustainable, long term.”

The ultimate goal for the ASB Working Group is to involve even more tenants and to continue to build a strong process to respond to ASB which will improve the quality of lives for our customers and improve customer satisfaction.

Gary explained: “I am thrilled to see the influence, we as tenants and residents, can have on the services that are most important to us, and that we are listened to and that our input is valued. This is just the start of our influence around improving service delivery around ASB for tenants. This work is ongoing, and we have more ideas on empowering tenants and residents on managing ASB in their communities.”