North West housing association set industry benchmarks for community safety

Resolve UK has praised One Vision Housing for its ‘exemplary’ approach to community safety that is setting benchmarks for anti-social behaviour services across the UK’s housing sector.

With a sole focus on community safety, Resolve UK advocates for anti-social behaviour (ASB) to be treated as a precursor to serious crime and helps organisations through effective training, support, guidance and best practice.

The centre of excellence has introduced a new ASB accreditation and One Vision Housing are the first to qualify in-line with their six overarching principles: leadership culture and resource, performance, victims and communities, challenge and change, problem solving and partnership, in addition to learning and development.

Tom Nevitt, an official spokesperson for Resolve UK said:

“One Vision Housing offers an exemplary anti-social behaviour service. They are truly leading the way when it comes to recognising the importance of making communities safer and excel in ensuring that appropriate resources are in place to support everybody affected by anti-social behaviour. It was a pleasure to go through this assessment process with them and discover so much best practice across the board.”

As a member of The Sovini Group, One Vision Housing is a provider of over 13.6k homes across the North West, with a commitment to creating opportunities and changing lives. Their Community Safety Team is dedicated to creating a better future for communities, ensuring customers are able to enjoy their homes in vibrant neighbourhoods without anti-social behaviour.

Following a peer review, Liz Smith, head of safer neighbourhoods at Stockport Homes commented:

“I was impressed by One Vision Housing’s approach to tackling anti-social behaviour, which is done in an innovative and passionate way. I saw many unique processes which I considered to be best practice and the passion from those interviewed really shone through.”

The housing association’s innovative approach involves proactive services that are leading the way in the housing sector, with 99% of cases responded to within 24 hours and over 89% of customers satisfied with case handling.

This proactive approach includes:

  • Interactive support directories and frequently asked question guides designed to help signpost victims to services available in their area.
  • Community outreach days in hotspot areas and partnerships with local councils, Police, Fire and Rescue services to improve engagement.
  • Bespoke training for colleagues and Community Safety Champion roles across the organisation.
  • Involvement in national and local campaigns to raise awareness.
  • Sharing best practice across housing sector groups and the landlord’s new podcast, On the Couch with One Vision Housing.

After accessing its ASB service, a customer from One Vision Housing thanked the association and said:

“My Community Safety Officer was amazing and went above and beyond to make sure I was okay and felt safe.”

Ian Mitchell, managing director at One Vision Housing commented:

“This accreditation from Resolve UK is testament to the dedication of our team who are committed to creating a better future across the neighbourhoods we serve. I am immensely proud that our approach to unite communities and tackle anti-social behaviour has been recognised as industry leading and look forward to working with the accreditation board to share best practice with our peers.”

To learn more about One Vision Housing and its approach to anti-social behaviour, please visit ovh.org.uk.