The business of crime prevention

Property Management

ISSN: 0263-7472

Article publication date: 1 October 2000

133

Keywords

Citation

(2000), "The business of crime prevention", Property Management, Vol. 18 No. 4. https://doi.org/10.1108/pm.2000.11318dab.031

Publisher

:

Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2000, MCB UP Limited


The business of crime prevention

The business of crime prevention

Keywords: Secured by Design, Crime, Social housing

Crime imposes heavy financial costs on Housing Associations. They should therefore regard crime as a business issue and take a proactive approach to prevention.

Between 1981 and 1995 recorded crime increased by 91 per cent. This has impacted most heavily on residential areas, particularly social housing. Crime and anti-social behaviour significantly degrade tenants' quality of life and impose a range of costs on Housing Associations, many of which may be hidden within current accounting conventions.

Making Crime Our Business. A Crime Audit Guide for Registered Social Landlords was written by Tim Pascoe of BRE and Paul Bartlett of SBS Business Solutions. It was produced with financial support from The Housing Corporation under the Innovation and Good Practice Programme, and with the help of Housing Associations and police sponsors.

The new guide, published by BRE with support from the Housing Corporation, is based on studies of eight estates. These have a typical range of crimes and social problems with associated costs to the Housing Associations, including:

  • the cost of the wear and tear of minor vandalism and nuisance behaviour;

  • the cost of repairing broken doors and windows, upgrading locking systems, insurance, etc. as a result of crime such as burglary;

  • the hidden costs of crime, for example, high void rates because of an area's reputation, loss of staff efficiency because of stress and strain on morale, and a disproportionate amount of time given to problem areas.

The guide provides users with a structure for estimating the costs to the landlord of crime, identifying and prioritising problems and taking action to deal with them. A spreadsheet tool and risk assessment audit enables the housing manager to assess problems and justify initiatives to deal with them.

The new publication was launched this week at a national conference addressed by the authors and representatives from the police, Housing Associations and the Housing Corporation. This will be followed by a series of planned regional seminars. For information on attending one of these contact BRE. Tel: 01923 664532.

The guide, Making Crime Our Business. A Crime Audit Guide for Registered Social Landlords (ref BR 383), is available from CRC Ltd, 151 Rosebery Avenue, London EC1R 4GB. Tel: 0171 505 6622; Fax: 0171 505 6606; E-mail: crc@construct.emap.co.uk

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