Safe and healthy homes and communities

Creating safe places to live

We have a specialist Community Safety Team that works closely with partner agencies to help prevent and tackle anti-social behaviour (ASB).

We work with people who are committing ASB to support them to change their ways. However, we will take action if necessary.

Over the last year we dealt with 604 cases of ASB. It took us an average of 57.5 days to close ASB cases. This is compared to 455 cases last year and an average of 50 days to close a case. We will be reviewing the way we manage the reports of ASB whilst we strive to improve on this performance.

We successfully took legal action in 45 cases to put a stop to anti-social behaviour; we gained eight ASB injunction orders and two tenants were evicted due to their ASB.

We attended three committal hearings for breach of an injunction order, where the injunctions were extended and further sanctions imposed for those breaches. We also successfully applied for 17 access injunctions as we continued to work towards making our properties as safe as possible by carrying out gas and electrical safety checks.

59.5% of customers told us they were satisfied with the way their ASB case was dealt with, and 60.6% were satisfied with the outcome. This is a reduction from the previous year and to address this, we have identified areas for improvement, including keeping our tenants updated and informed about their ASB case.

Working with partners

Working closely with partners in our community such as the police and fire service helps us to take a targeted approach which often results in the prevention and remedying of anti-social behaviour.

We have attended 107 partnership meetings with Lancashire Constabulary throughout the past year and contributed to 79 multi-agency meetings which has helped not only prevent anti-social behaviour but also helped tenants whose tenancy was at risk due to anti-social behaviour.

We conducted 101 home visits during office hours with the local police.

Inspiring young people

Work completed this year on the £4.8 million Inspire Youth Zone in Chorley.

The Group is a founder patron of the centre, which is run in partnership with Chorley Council, Lancashire County Council, The Arts Partnership and OnSide Youth Zones.

In the first month of opening, 3,400 young people signed up to be members at the centre, exceeding expectations and over 100 members live in Progress Housing Group properties.

Bringing communities together

The Progress Involvement Team has been working with different communities to provide a range of activities and bring people together.

During the year we:

  • Created four community-based projects as part of The Challenge National Citizen Service programme at Balfour House, Blackburn; Walton’s Parade, Preston; Boundary Close, Longton and Rivington Manor, Blackpool. The projects involved groups of young people working with 20 independent living customers and 22 supported living customers on garden-based projects at each of the schemes. As well as working together for a common goal, participants also managed to raise £858.27 across the four projects to help contribute to the cost of completing them
  • The Big Lunch, a national campaign designed to bring communities together to share a meal and have fun. During the year, four Big Lunch events were held in two of our independent living schemes, Broadfield in Leyland and Saltcotes in Fylde
  • Held more than 800 activities and events to 7,000 people at our independent living schemes – including afternoon teas, pamper days, coffee mornings, games afternoons, exercise sessions, and local trips
  • Worked with the Wade Hall Community Association to provide a weekly dance group, thrift shop and hideout hub cafe
  • Held 200 events across the country where supported living customers got an opportunity to tell us what they think about our services
  • Continued to support the Artlink project where nine supported living customers in Leeds took part in a programme of interactive art projects.

Community Investment Fund

During the year the Community Investment Fund supported local community groups by providing funding of £112,718 to help set up or develop community projects. This has included the following projects:

  • Youth activities in Fylde and South Ribble
  • Community flood prevention project in Burneside
  • Community defibrillator project in Burneside
  • Big Lunch events across Fylde and South Ribble
  • The Challenge National Citizen Service projects in Blackpool, Longton, Preston and Blackburn
  • Social club activities in Blackburn and Darwen.