Our Performance: Neighbourhood & Community
In this article, we take a look at how South Essex Homes is doing with the 'Neighbourhood & Community' consumer standard. This means checking how we help keep shared areas safe, work with local groups, deal with anti-social behaviour, and support people affected by hate crime or domestic abuse.
Safety of Shared Spaces
The standard says that landlords must work together with tenants and other groups to help keep shared spaces safe for everyone.
We check every estate we manage at least twice a year. These checks are done by our Tenancy Services Officers, surveyors, and cleaning staff. Residents and local councillors can join in to share concerns or ask questions. You can find the inspection schedule and reports on our website here: Estate Inspections | South Essex Homes
We also run events to help people take pride in their neighbourhoods. These include meetings at places like the Storehouse and Mendip Wildlife Garden.
SEPS Neighbourhood Patrol carry out nightly patrols of Queensway and Balmoral Tower blocks (8 buildings including Barringtons). They provide a daily report of their activity and wear body worn CCTV. Where there are reports of anti-social or criminal activity, this is dealt with by the Patrol but also shared with partners, Essex Police Southend Neighbourhood Policing Team and Southend City Council Community Safety Team. Between April 2024 and March 2025, the team carried out over 12,325 patrols and have assisted the police in a number of cases.
This ensures that the information and activity is shared to enable a comprehensive partnership approach to improve the safety of communities South Essex Homes work within.
We work with local groups to support young people, especially those who might need extra help. Visit www.atfcommunity.comor speak to your Tenancy Services Officer to learn more.
Local Co-operation
The standard says that landlords must listen to tenants and work with local councils and other groups to help make communities better places to live. They must also explain how they help with things like health, money, and the environment.
We work with Southend-on-Sea City Council, Essex Police, and others to support our communities. We hold resident meetings, estate days, and joint events with the police to tackle local issues.
ASB Awareness Week
We support ASB Awareness Week, which this year ran from 30 June until 6 July. We used the opportunity to carry out a short online survey asking how easy residents found it to report ASB to us. Here's what you told us:
What's working: Many of you find it easy to report ASB by phone, email or online, and praised our staff for being polite and helpful.
What needs to improve: You told us that follow-up can be slow, the process isn't always clear, and more support is needed, especially in more serious or repeated cases.
We hear you. We're using your feedback to improve how ASB can be reported and how we respond.
Anti-Social Behaviour (ASB) & Hate Incidents
The standard says that landlords must have a clear plan for how they work with others, like the police or the council, to stop and deal with anti-social behaviour (ASB) in the areas where they provide homes.
Our Housing Community Safety Team works hard to deal with people who cause anti-social behaviour (ASB). They use different ways to solve the problem, depending on what's needed.
We respond to ASB reports based on risk:
- High risk: within 24 hours
- Medium risk: within 5 days
- Standard risk: within 10 days
Between April 2024 and March 2025, we responded to:
- 99% of high-risk cases on time
- 100% of medium-risk cases on time
- 98.6% of standard-risk cases on time
We work closely with Essex Police and other partners. We hold joint visits, door knocks, and community events to talk to residents and solve problems together. We are part of Resolve, a group that helps improve how ASB is handled. We were given accreditation in July 2025 for our work.
The standard says that landlords must make it easy for people to report anti-social behaviour (ASB) and hate incidents. They must also keep tenants updated on what's happening with their case.
In 2024-25, we opened 489 ASB cases - a 32% increase from the year before. We also help people report hate crimes and offer support. During this period, we received 15 reports of hate crimes or incidents and offered support to those affected.
Residents who report ASB to us are later contacted and asked to complete a survey to provide feedback about their experience. 196 surveys were completed between April 2024 and March 2025 and those residents gave us the following average scores (out of 10):
- Ease of reporting ASB: 8.4
- Satisfaction with contact from the team: 7.9
- Satisfaction with outcome of the case: 7.8
Taking Action
The standard says that landlords must act quickly and in the right way when someone reports anti-social behaviour (ASB) or a hate incident. They should use all the tools and legal powers they have to help solve the problem.
We take strong action when needed. In 2024-25, we issued:
· 4 x Partial Closure Orders - for county lines activity, serious assault and noise nuisance.
· 2 x Full Closure Orders - for drugs and organised crime.
· 3 x Injunctions - for noise, ASB and unruly visitors.
· 1 x Suspended Possession Order - for noise and nuisance.
· 11 x Evictions - for drugs, serious ASB and criminal activity, domestic abuse and criminal conviction.
10 Possession Hearings currently awaiting a court date - for ASB, serious ASB, organised crime and criminal conviction.
29 of our staff are trained under the Community Safety Accreditation Scheme (CSAS), giving them powers to deal with ASB in the community.
The standard says that landlords must support people who are affected by anti-social behaviour (ASB) or hate incidents. This includes helping them find other organisations that can give the right help and advice.
Our staff are trained to help residents. Two Tenancy Support Officers completed BTEC qualifications last year.
We also help people affected by ASB and hate incidents by referring them to support services. Lots of information can be found on the Southend Community Safety Partnership website - www.southendcsp.org.uk
The South Essex Homes website also contains details of other organisations who can provide support: Your Community | South Essex Homes
Domestic Abuse
The standard says that landlords must have a clear plan for how they spot and deal with cases of domestic abuse in the right way.
We take domestic abuse seriously. We were accredited by the Domestic Abuse Housing Alliance (DAHA) in 2022 and continue to support victims.
We have a strong policy and train all staff to handle reports. As of April 2025, we were helping 22 open cases, down from 37 the year before.
We won the Essex Housing Award in November 2024 for our work supporting people experiencing domestic abuse.
The standard says that landlords must work with the local council to help make safe plans and services for people and children affected by domestic abuse.
We work with Essex Compass and Safe Steps to help victims and are part of the Southend, Essex and Thurrock Domestic Abuse Board (SETDAB).
For more information about the strategy, please visit: www.setdab.org/about-us/