Behind the smile

Framed photos of children hang prominently in the office of Hazel Blears, MP for Salford and Home Office minister for crime reduction, policing and community safety. Three young girls with trusting faces and a boy of about 12 with a grin midway between charming and cocky. "That's one of the bad lads," Blears says brightly, explaining that the photos were taken as part of a Salford arts project for youngsters with attention deficit and behaviour problems.

The portraits bring what Blears calls "my city" directly into the heart of her office. Salford, where she was born and worked as a councillor for eight years, has a magnetic hold on her conversation. For Blears, housing and antisocial behaviour relate directly to the Salford experience, to the low-demand North, rogue private landlords, abandonment, vandalism and crack houses.

But she emphasises that in at least one corner of her constituency – Seedley/Langworthy – the community has turned the corner with the help of antisocial behaviour orders and a council team targeting nuisance in the private sector. And to give registered social landlords their due, she slips in the story of a Salford association that twinned trouble-making "bad lads" with residents of a sheltered scheme. "The kids used to throw stones at the old people. Now they knock on the door and say, 'Can I see Gladys?'. "

Blears is now holding out the same promise to communities everywhere. Adopt the hardline measures in the Antisocial Behaviour Bill – including widening the application of antisocial behaviour orders, fixed penalty notices, and demoting nuisance tenants to probationary tenancies – to restore estates to places where Gladys can feel safe and the potential "bad lads" won't be drawn into crime and drugs.

Blears is about to launch the Antisocial Behaviour Action Plan, an instruction manual to go with the legal "toolkit" in the bill. The initiative will be launched at a conference on 14 October and aims to lower the threshold of tolerance for antisocial behaviour among local authorities, RSLs, town-centre managers and police forces, then build up capacity to deal with it through best practice case studies and pooled research. The plan will be backed by £75m over three years, a fund that was announced at the launch of the antisocial behaviour white paper in March.

Blears feels social housing providers have shown only "patchy" commitment to this agenda so far, but she now wants to sign them up as key partners. "In the past, the housing field hasn't been involved anything like enough – not just in tackling antisocial behaviour but also in reinforcing good behaviour. As much as the police can try to deal with nuisance on the streets, and local authorities and social services and education can support this as well, housing has been the missing part of the jigsaw. That's what we're trying to remedy."

In the past, the housing field hasn’t been involved anything like enough – not just in tackling antisocial behaviour but also in reinforcing good behaviour

But despite this warm welcome, there is lingering criticism of RSLs that prioritise rental income over their tenants' quality of life, or let liberal scruples come between their "social" and "landlord" functions. "In the past, I think it's fair to say that some [associations] have been responsible for some of the blight that's affected communities, because of the need to get tenants in. I don't think there's been sufficient vetting of tenants, or sufficient enforcement of tenancy conditions."

Landlords, though, are only too aware of these shortcomings. At its annual conference last week (HT 26 September), the National Housing Federation committed its members to a higher profile in tackling low-level crime, and linked antisocial behaviour to the ingrained stain on the social housing sector's image. Councils, meanwhile, have welcomed the work of the year-old Antisocial Behaviour Unit – "broadly speaking, it is doing a tremendous job," says Bill Pitt, head of nuisance strategy at Manchester council – although the Local Government Association is pushing for the enforcement agenda to be matched by more preventive work.

But even if social housing providers are increasingly willing to roll up their sleeves and wade in, there are still practical concerns. The expenses incurred in gathering evidence, applying for ASBOs, injunctions and rehousing witnesses when necessary can spiral. "Often, RSLs pay because no one else does," says Tim Winter, national coordinator of the Social Landlords Crime and Nuisance Group. In particular, there is no funding to help councils take ASBOs across all tenures: the private sector team in Salford, for example, is funded by the fifth round of the single regeneration budget.

Blears' response – that direct costs will be offset by indirect savings – sounds a mite over-simple and her advice has a hint of underbaked apple pie: "If your property isn't being trashed, you haven't got to board it up and repair it," she says. "Yes, there are costs but there are also savings. Not just housing associations but local authorities have to invest in good close estate management."

Some landlords suggest the costs of ASBOs and injunctions would be better shared between all the agencies that benefit, from the fire service that no longer has to attend burned-out cars to the education authority that can cut its vandalism budget. Blears stops short of agreeing with this, suggesting instead that social housing providers need to become better team players, but seems to see the logic behind it. "If you tackle antisocial behaviour, it's a win for every part of the system – the police, the housing provider, the local authority," she says. "It makes economic sense."

If your property isn’t being trashed, you haven’t got to board it up and repair it. Yes, there are costs but there are also savings

A recent survey revealed that three in 10 RSLs have been cold-shouldered by their local Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships, and this is unacceptable, says Blears. "They should be absolutely key partners, and if they're not being asked, they should demand access and would have my full support. If anyone has any problems getting through the system, get in touch with the Antisocial Behaviour Unit – they're the 'bureaucracy busters'."

Bureaucracy, it turns out, is a pet peeve. "Funding streams, reporting streams … sometimes, it's almost as if the business of government appears to surround itself in so many systems that the actual powers can't be used," she says. As a trade-union activist, community volunteer and councillor, and in her career as a local government solicitor, Blears says she has always tried to steer clear of red tape and "enjoys making a difference".

She certainly has a ready laugh, a wide repertoire of smiles, a way of talking that's more homespun than spin and a sense of fun: in her spare time, Blears is the linchpin of an MPs' tap-dancing group. In response to the photographer's request to look 'serious', she says: "I don't do serious. That's how I survived in politics."

But she also has a tendency to smile her way past awkward points. When, for instance, the housing sector's near-universal rejection of housing benefit sanctions is put to her, her grin widens visibly. At first, she sidesteps into the Housing Bill's proposed licensing of private landlords in low-demand areas, which could include benefit sanctions. "I've been campaigning for [licensing] for five years, I'm absolutely delighted the provision is in the bill. The only way to get the rogues and villains to behave is to hit them where it hurts." But what about the issue of housing benefit for all tenants? The smile cannot get any wider and is forced to become a laugh. "We're consulting on it!"

Social housing providers are increasingly ready to back Blears, and will be looking for reciprocal backing as the Antisocial Behaviour Bill is passed and the action plan is rolled out. Chances are fair to good, according to Tom Manion, chief executive of Irwell Valley Housing Association, which has 1200 homes in Salford. "She's energetic and enthusiastic, and has traumatic, immediate evidence of what antisocial behaviour can do to a community," he says. But, as Manion also points out, the city has some way to go.