Tenant reps have called for a faster response from housing officials to deal with antisocial behaviour.

People living on council estates in east Brighton said that early intervention was needed when antisocial behaviour problems started.

Their concerns were raised in a report to a Brighton and Hove City Council housing management panel for tenants and leaseholders in Whitehawk, Woodingdean, Manor Farm and the Bristol Estate.

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The panels provide a forum for tenant reps to discuss issues with councillors and council officials.

Reps said that they understand that investigations took time but it was taking too long for the council to take the first steps such as giving informal warnings and support.

By the time that officials typically started to take action, reps said that the anti-social behaviour was “embedded and systemic”, affecting neighbours’ mental health.

They said: “It would be better for the council to address the problem early on for interventions to be effective and for local residents to be reassured.”

Residents are asking the council for:

  • A more rapid initial response to reports of anti-social behaviour so that problems are addressed before they escalated.
  • Any initial response and any interventions for dealing with reports of anti-social behaviour to involve a discussion or consultation with members of the community, including tenant reps.
  • Tenancies to include a probationary period before they become secure, with regular checks to ensure that any problems are spotted and dealt with early on by providing support and through preventative work.

Tenancy service operations manager Janet Dowdell said that the council did take prompt action to deal with anti-social behaviour, otherwise it was harder to resolve.

She said: “We are also aware that the way we work is still reactive and there are instances where we could have prevented the anti-social behaviour from occurring in the first place, such as being more present on the estates and undertaking more home visits.

“This enables us to gain good information in an area and understand more about how people are managing their tenancies and relationships with neighbours.

“In every case where there are victims or witnesses to incidents of anti-social behaviour, the case officer will contact them to get details of the situation, carry out a risk assessment and put in place appropriate risk-reduction measures.

“During this contact there will be a wider discussion regarding what measures the victim or witness feel need to be taken and the measures that (the housing team) are able to take.

“Ideally this contact may need to be more frequent so that tenants are supported.”

She said that new tenants now had a 12-month probationary period if they had not had a “secure tenancy” before.

Housing officials would be expected to visit during the first year to check whether there were any concerns, anti-social behaviour issues or support needed.

The east area housing panel is due to meet at the Whitehawk Library, in Whitehawk Road, at 2pm on Wednesday 11 September.