Tweeting to tackle nuisance behaviour

Less than a decade ago tackling noise and nuisance involved holding community support groups and, at best, setting up a dedicated telephone hotline for residents to make a complaint. Today, social media proves the most effective way to tackle anti-social behaviour. Housing associations are already using tools such as Twitter and Facebook in an effort to improve their relationship with young residents. The shift, which could see social landlords tweeting about nuisance areas and encouraging complaints through interactive websites, is a response to an online study carried out by the Chartered Institute of Housing with alarming results. It found that, though the majority of landlords labelled their anti-social behaviour (ASB) strategies as either good or excellent, 71% felt they needed to improve the way they worked with young men, single adults and young families. With housing associations now expected to offer a comprehensive support service to tenants and residents, an efficient ASB scheme is essential. Eamon Lynch, managing director of the Social Landlords Crime and Nuisance Group, believes landlords have come to realise that traditional methods of working with communities to deal with ASB are now proving "insufficient" and unreliable. "Conventional postal and telephone surveys have also been shown to present an incomplete picture," he says. New tricks ASB advisors say neglecting certain tenant groups will lead to an increase in unacceptable behaviour, from noise and littering to violence in the community. But reaching out to the entire community, even with new digital means of communication, is a difficult task; housing associations are expected to educate, enforce and prevent anti-social behaviour across whole regions. Tried and tested methods, including telephone and postal surveys, estate walkabouts and resident meetings, are now seen as outdated and reach only those who are at home during the day. To improve communication with tenants, social landlords need to focus on better understanding who their residents are. Chris Grose, anti-social behaviour advisor at the CIH, explains: "Understanding the profile of a community is the golden rule – if the landlord understands the make up of a local area it's far easier to target specific methods of communication. Many landlords collate customer profile information but do not use it effectively to communicate with residents." Grose has seen associations adopt new communication methods to pinpoint specific resident groups to great effect. He recommends using Twitter to draw residents in to ASB consultations , using Facebook to provide information and contact details, and creating interactive websites to report anti-social problems. The benefit is that housing associations can target specific groups with speed and ease. "This should increase the chances of appealing to a younger generation and will certainly raise the profile of the landlord in tackling ASB," says Grose. But the exercise should be a two way process. "It's about working with all types of tenant and not just for them - tenants are best placed to inform landlords about what works and what doesn't because they live in the communities where services are delivered." Content is king However, Lynch warns that migrating all projects online could lead to the anti-social behaviour strategies becoming faceless and too general. "What we know from research done by [former Respect tsar] Louise Casey and Ipsos Mori is that the more local the better," says Lynch. "In other words, people generally value personal communication most and find that leaflets and newsletters delivered with an explanation work better than simply pushing paper through letterboxes." In the same way that face-to-face street or block meetings have proved effective in the past, online platforms must be personally tailored – online users should feel like they're interacting with a real person about ASB, rather than reading a status update. Wherry Housing Association has used Facebook discussion boards to talk directly with residents about vandalism issues, a very personal issue. Solihull Community Housing has found similar success by using Twitter to inform residents about its anti-social behaviour panel. But not every tenant has access to the web, and half of all UK social housing tenants have not used the internet . Housing associations should use digital tools alongside traditional avenues to access all tenants groups. "It should provide additional options for residents, but should never be a substitute for being able to communicate with the person responsible for dealing with their problem," says Grose. This content is brought to you by Guardian Professional. Join the housing network for more like this direct to your inbox.