City West achieves national accreditation for ASB service

City West Housing Trust has been awarded a nationally recognised accreditation for the way it deals with anti-social behaviour.

The Salford-based housing association, which manages 14,600 homes throughout the west of the city, has been awarded HouseMark’s ASB accreditation.

The accreditation is awarded for the successful strategic and operational approach the social landlord demonstrates to tackling ASB in its communities.

Awarded by Housemark, an organisation which supports housing organisations to improve their performance and services, the accreditation allows social landlords to demonstrate to their tenants, partners and the wider community that they are responding well to anti-social behaviour, recognising that it’s a high priority issue for many tenants.

It comes just one year after City West transferred the ASB service in-house from Salford City Council.

The accreditation is developed in partnership with the Social Landlords Crime and Nuisance Group (SLCNG).

City West’s ASB service was monitored closely and assessed against a set of criteria based on expectations of housing regulators, best practice in the sector and the Respect Standard for Housing Management.

The accreditation provides an assessment of the ASB service in several different areas including the support provided for victims and witnesses, effective enforcement action that has been taken, how equality and diversity issues are addressed, how residents are involved in developing the service and value for money.

David Cummins, director of communities and neighbourhoods, said: “The thorough assessment involved in ASB accreditation demonstrates that City West has an excellent ASB service that is committed to helping us achieve our vision of creating communities where people are proud to live.

“This is an incredible achievement in such a short space of time; it often takes housing associations a number of years to achieve this accreditation. It is an area of the housing service that is incredibly important to both us and our tenants.”

Lynne Alderson, a tenant board member for City West, added: “Achieving HouseMark’s ASB accreditation sends out a strong message to our customers that City West is dealing with nuisance and ASB issues. It should also demonstrate that we are delivering a quality service.”