How we deal with prostitutes

I agree with Gill Brown that women do not freely choose to become street prostitutes (Letters, 6 February, page 20). She may well be right that there is “too much stick and not enough carrot”. As housing providers, we are clearly in a position to help give people currently excluded from normal society some sort of choice.

In Birmingham, we have discovered it is possible to rehouse such women, without in any way tolerating or rewarding criminal or antisocial behaviour.

Working in partnership with key partner agencies and residents groups, we have taken a two- strand approach: enforcement action against the pimps and drug dealers, coupled with an exit strategy for the women they control.

A close relationship with a health project that is built on trust, but backed up by a service level agreement, means we can allocate properties to women who are committed to changing their way of life and have access to professional support to assist them in doing so.

Under this scheme, launched a little more than a year ago, former street prostitutes referred to us are given introductory tenancies in different parts of the city and their behaviour is closely monitored. To date, more than 90% of these tenancies have been successful and the others have been quickly terminated.

The risk of displacement is there, but it is small compared with the benefits for the women concerned, not to mention the communities where they no longer work the streets.