How To... form an antisocial behaviour partnership

Housing associations have been urged by the Housing Corporation to fight antisocial behaviour for some time now. In order to do this many landlords are teaming up – a group of Southern housing associations led by Hyde Housing is to launch a consortium this month, and similar partnerships already exist in Coventry and Derbyshire. All praise the benefits of pooling resources and sharing expertise and experiences. So how did they go about it?

Where to begin

To set up a solid partnership, the first step is to identify potential partners in your local area. The Housing Corporation will be able to give you a list. Hyde regional housing manager Peter Hall says it discovered 111 associations in Hampshire. Less dauntingly, the breakdown revealed that 20 RSL groups owned and managed 80% of the stock.

Derbyshire consortium of social landlords project leader Gareth Greenwood says Derwent wrote to associations covering five local authorities in the southern part of Derbyshire proposing a partnership. They formed a group which was later joined by the Northern Counties Housing Association, extending the regional coverage.

You could try holding a conference to drum up support. Hyde invited all Hampshire-based RSLs and other key stakeholders to a conference to examine key issues arising from the Antisocial Behaviour Act. Eleven RSLs from Hampshire, Dorset and West Sussex agreed to form the partnership.

Persuading new partners to join your group will be a lot easier if a pilot scheme has delivered encouraging results. Since 2002 Hyde Housing Group had run the pilot of a dedicated antisocial behaviour officer within the Hampshire region and used it as an example to potential partners.

The Coventry consortium was first formed in 2000 with eight members. Eamon Lynch, tenancy services manager of the largest member, Whitefriars, says that when the group sought to expand, they sent forms out to all the housing associations operating in Coventry. He says they were confident that their expertise would play in their favour to win new members. The consortium now includes 13 associations.

Getting partners to join your group will be easier if a pilot scheme has shown encouraging results

A consortium is more likely than a single RSL to raise funding from public bodies but they demonstrate organisation and cooperation. Coventry received a grant of £111,000 over two years from the Housing Corporation and the Home Office. The grant has now run out, but contributions from the members will enable them to keep their project officer on a full-time basis. The Home Office and the Government Office for the South-east contribute £40,000 each to the annual project costs of the Hyde consortium.

Meet regularly

Meeting on a regular basis is important to the good running of your partnership. The project board of the Hyde group includes senior managers from each participating RSL who meet quarterly to review financial and strategic performance and quality of services. A shadow board of resident representatives also meets quarterly, while the steering group meetings, which review operational issues, take place monthly.

The Coventry steering group also meets for half a day every month to set the strategy and organise the work plan, while the whole consortium meets on a quarterly basis for informative issue-based meetings. Those meetings are an opportunity to become acquainted with briefing information, organise workshops on issues that interest the members and share experiences of how the strategy is enforced.

Finally, partnerships shouldn’t involve too many of your staff. Neither do they require hiring many more staff – usually just one or two positions are created.