our six commitments to respect


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1. Accountability, Leadership and Commitment

This is about landlords being committed to doing all they can to create a culture of respect. It's about them making a public commitment to the community and being transparent and accountable for what they do.
It's about making sure that everyone in the organisation understands what it takes to make a positive difference and are prepared to carry out what they promise. Strong leadership can make all the difference by searching for solutions rather than making excuses for avoiding action.
A strong commitment to working with partners (eg other landlords, the police and social services) is also very important. It's unreasonable to expect landlords to do everything as partners need to co-operate fully as well, but we do expect them to do all they can to make things work.

2 Empowering and Reassuring Residents

Nobody knows better than the community about what it wants and needs. It's no use planning services around what you think people want without having asked them.  We expect landlords to communicate regularly with the community to let them know what's going on by holding regular meetings and circulating leaflets and newsletters.
Good landlords should be asking residents what problems they experience and take suggestions on how best to resolve them. for example, a landlord might work with groups of residents in a neighbourhood or on an estate in order to establish a 'good neighbour agreement'. This sets out what the landlord will do to stop problems and what everyone in the community will do to ensure they respect their neighbours.

This might involve organising an estate walk to record problems that need resolving like graffiti or fly tipping or a 'community clean up' day to improve the local environment.  It's also about putting the community at the heart of the agenda so that landlords and the community work as one. This should include celebrating and rewarding people who go the extra mile to make a positive contribution to the neighbourhood.

3 Prevention and Early Intervention

Some anti-social behaviour can be nipped in the bud. If problems are not dealt with quickly they often escalate. If early action isn't taken people who carry out anti-social behaviour feel they can get away with it leaving the rest of the community feeling helpless and disillusioned.
Where problems occur we expect landlords and partners to issue clear warnings and use tools such as Acceptable Behaviour Contracts (ABCs) to warn people that if anti-social behaviour continues then tough action will follow.
A strong presence in the area (for example housing officer patrols, community support officers and wardens) can also act as an effective deterrent and reassures people that someone is looking out for them.
It's also about letting everybody know what standards of behaviour are acceptable from the start. for example, explaining tenancy agreements when people sign so they are made aware of how important it is to respect their neighbours and the local environment.


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