Our Statement on the Government’s New ‘Action Plan’ to Tackle Anti-Social Behaviour (ASB) By Jacqueline Parkes, SHAC Disability Visibility Group Lead In January, we held our first DVG meeting for 2023. During this session, we stated our intention this year to focus on disabled residents’ experiences of ASB in social housing, and to raise the… Continue reading Disabled Victims of Anti-Social Behaviour in Housing Associations
By Carl Davis Last Sunday the Bureau of Investigative Journalism published the findings of its investigation into the use of Antisocial Behaviour Injunctions ( ASBIs). Sent to jail for feeding the pigeons: the broken system of antisocial behaviour laws Their shocking report describes how mentally ill and other vulnerable people are being sent to prison… Continue reading ASB Injuctions: A Conveyor belt of Rough Justice
By Carl Davis A lot of the recent shocking media coverage on disrepair in the social housing sector focussed on huge remote and faceless corporate providers like Clarion, L&Q, and Notting Hill Genesis. But this fails to capture the experience of people housed by smaller, rogue and failing social landlords. For example, Chantele – not… Continue reading Little Rogue Landlords
By Carl Davis The National Housing Federation (NHF), a membership organisation representing more than 800 housing associations, recently teamed up with housing association Aster Group's diversity and inclusion lead to share Twitter tips on becoming a ‘Disability Confident’ employer, posted under the hashtag #NHFDiversity. The Disability Confident Employer scheme is a voluntary, government accredited initiative… Continue reading National Housing Federation’s Feeble Action on Equalities
By guest writer, Samuel Kitney* The dispute with Viridian Housing, my original landlord, started in 2015 when I noticed that the service charge statement included a charge for gas that we do not have. The only gas in the building is used in the plant room to run the communal heating system and the commercial… Continue reading Optivo on Trial Over Service Charges
By Carl Davis Not just an issue of staff training .. Last week Eddie Hughes, Minister for Rough Sleeping & Housing confirmed the launch of the Social Housing White Paper Professionalisation Review. The review will look at the qualifications currently available for staff, with landlords, residents and trade bodies invited to put forward recommendations. The… Continue reading Gaming the System
By Carl Davis The Equality Act 2010 requires that employers and service providers like social landlords make 'reasonable adjustments' that will allow disabled people to access the same opportunities and services as non-disabled people. It also requires employers and providers to consider disability in everything they do and to actively anticipate the need for reasonable… Continue reading The Anatomy of a Reasonable Adjustment
By Carl Davis Carl Davis reviews the report on challenging the stigmatization of social housing tenants in England, by Amanze Ejiogu and Mercy Denedo. The report sets out to fill the knowledge gap around the stigmatisation of social housing, and explain how and why people are judged negatively and even actively discriminated against simply because… Continue reading Not Welcome Here: The Social Housing Stigma
The SHAC Disability Charter Scheme will allow housing associations to bridge a gaping chasm between a landlord's fine words on equalities for disabled tenants and the tenant's own lived experience. The Charter Scheme is published here for consultation. You can leave suggestions in the comments section of this article, or email shac.action@gmail.com. Download the Charter… Continue reading Bridging the Disability Gap
