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This paper aims to outline an exploratory study of how a multi-agency, partnership approach to crime prevention might enable the police more effectively to target their utilisation of resources in order both to reduce local levels of criminality and to improve public confidence. It is set against a backdrop of major police reforms that will require police commanders to demonstrate high levels of accountability in terms of resource and financial utilisation, and to show continuing improvement in levels of public confidence.

A case study approach is adopted; it draws upon both primary and secondary data sources and is framed within a situational approach to crime prevention.

There has been a drop in the levels of burglary in those areas where the home improvement initiative (Decent Homes Programme) has been carried out. The tenants consulted as part of the research reported that they felt safer in their homes as a result. Also, their general level of satisfaction with the police and other agencies has improved.

There has been an overall drop in levels of reported crime in terms of burglaries across the UK. It may be asked whether such improvement in Nottingham has been due to a genuine improvement in police performance or is as a consequence of the home improvements. The present paper is a single case study, with no opportunity for a comparative analysis across other police force areas. This limitation could be overcome by other researchers involved in similar Decent Homes Programmes in other cities in the UK.

The research illustrates that multi-agency working may indeed help create an improvement in living conditions for residents. It also identifies the fact that, as a result of successful integrated multi-agency approaches to crime prevention, the police are able to save resources in terms of time spent investigating crime.

This paper adds tangible evidence to theoretical discourse on the benefits of multi-agency work in the context of social housing

The purpose of this paper is to highlight the pivotal role of initiatives that address housing disrepair, home improvements and adaptations as a way of improving health, independence and quality of life in older age.

The author uses data from housing and health, combined with the author’s experience of policy formulation as well as working with older people and developing practical services, particularly those which address private sector housing stock condition.

As well as its massive economic impact, housing greatly affects people’s health and wellbeing, not only in later life but across the life course. In England, there is a long history of systematic, government backed action to improve and maintain housing stock condition. There are significant economic and social gains from a coherent national response to addressing private sector housing disrepair, including creation of employment opportunities, economic stimulus through enabling best use of assets, as well as health and social care gains. In addition to increasing housing supply through building much needed new homes, existing housing stock disrepair needs once again to be “on the radar” of policy makers operating across health, social care and housing. Concerted action to make homes safe, healthy places to live in later life, whatever an older person’s tenure, requires vision and innovation and is an essential element in the integration of health, social care – and housing. With significant funding constraints in local authorities, especially for adult social care, and in the context of growing pressures on the NHS, sustaining good health in later life is more important than ever. There is a compelling case for cross-sector action to reduce health hazards in ordinary, private housing, given that 79 per cent of older people who live in non-decent homes are owner occupiers. This is an opportune moment for Health and Wellbeing Boards to take a lead on this issue at a local level, as well as time to put housing stock condition back “On the Radar” of national government policy.

There is a need to embed practical housing services in the emerging integrated health and care systems in order to extend healthy later life for the majority of older people who live in mainstream housing.

The author draws on over 30 years’ experience of innovation, development and evaluation of older people’s housing, services and policy development to provide a vision for greater integration across health, care and housing.

The first paper, entitled “The perception of tenants in the refurbishment of tower blocks” (Facilities, Vol. 31, No. 3/4), argued that refurbishment was the best option that a local authority could undertake to improve tower blocks. The study also found that refurbishment maintained local communities by keeping families together and sustained the environment. This paper aims to present and examine similar views from the contractor's and landlord's representatives on several aspects affecting the refurbishment process

A literature review is used to identify the perceived problems and benefits of refurbishment. A qualitative approach comprising semi structured interviews and questionnaires was used to collect data from three contractors or service providers of the refurbishment process and two landlords' representatives, namely the clerk of works drawn from the housing association. The sample data are analysed using frequency analysis and content analysis.

Refurbishment as opposed to demolition was identified as a viable option for achieving sustainability. There were some divergent views among the respondents concerning the achievements to be gained from refurbishments. The project managers identified “client satisfaction”, and “within budget and time”. The senior site manager chose “a better way of life” and “improved security”. The quantity surveyor opted for “profit‐oriented”, finally, “provision of decent homes at affordable prices” was identified by the senior clerk of works. The knowledge of the council funding mechanisms for refurbishment works among the respondents ranged from adequate to ideal. The contractor's representatives exhibited limited knowledge.

The findings of the study provide practical value for contractor's and landlord's (housing association) representatives within the construction industry confronted with the decision of whether to undertake some refurbishment works. Some lessons learned could also improve the housing stock or asset management strategies for the landlord's representatives.

The paper is original in the sense that it identifies how the contractor's and landlord's (housing association) representatives as drawn from different professional background rate the reasons, benefits, and practicalities of undertaking refurbishment works of tower blocks or high rise buildings. The study also provides some insights on the contractor's and landlord's (housing association) representative's knowledge and awareness of sustainable development, and councils' funding mechanisms for undertaking refurbishment works.

The purpose of this paper is to contextualise and assess “controlled” evidence about emerging plural provision of social housing within an English region.

Two matching pairs of case study social housing provider type (stock transfer associations and arm's‐length management organisations), all established between four and seven years previously and all located within the same region, are compared and contrasted through rich qualitative interviews with stakeholders, backed by secondary and other documentary evidence.

The new models have led to considerable change for both staff and tenants across many dimensions, mainly positive, in service delivery terms. It is also apparent that regulation and inspection have a dominant impact on social providers. It can be inferred from the evidence that a key challenge for the future is the lack of a clear, long‐term vision for social housing at the national policy level.

The paper is a rare empirical examination of wide‐ranging change to social housing in the UK. It is also unusual in its attempt to construct a quasi‐experimental series of case studies.

The purpose of this paper is to explore offenders’ experiences of community reintegration facilitated by a supported housing scheme.

Data were derived from five semi-structured interviews with prolific offenders who were participating in a UK “north west housing association” scheme; a community reintegration programme for offenders released from prison.

Thematic analysis demonstrated four predominant themes, these were: “the decision to change”, “self-fulfilment”, “a place to call home” and “a suitable support system”. The themes are discussed in relation to the Good Lives Model.

Participation in the housing scheme was a key component of the reintegration process, which positively facilitated lifestyle change.

This research considers the often “unheard” perspectives of prolific offenders and highlights the significant role of community housing schemes in supporting successful community reintegration.

Recent governments have highlighted the problems of unfitness and why individual homeowners should intervene to deal with the maintenance problems of their own homes. Current estimates of the cost of comprehensive renewal are said to run into billions of pounds. There is also a genuine concern that the number of unfit dwellings will continue to increase regardless of the steady pace of renewal programmes. Arguably this concern has greatly influenced the dynamics of primary maintenance attributes of property owners. The primary attributes are recognised to be a product of increased owner‐maintenance awareness; enhanced owner‐maintenance skills and knowledge; and the owner‐maintenance management abilities. These attributes are interwoven, and therefore cannot be left out of current initiatives to improving the backlog of under‐maintenance in the owner‐occupier sector.

Housing sufficiency is an indication of national development, and in recognition of this, a longstanding development objective of the Malaysian Government is the provision of affordable housing. The government has introduced various policies, schemes and regulations to increase housing supply. However, despite these measures, homeownership rates are dropping, and housing prices are outstripping inflation. For this reason, this paper aims to explain the determinants of housing choices. The issues in affordable housing supply in Malaysia are that of shortage and distributions. The problem of distribution is largely addressable through choice reconciliations.

The research is based on a cross-sectional survey questionnaire, comprising 20 determinants and 468 householders/users. The questionnaire was developed via a review of the literature and the authors’ experience. The survey forms are administered by hand.

Six determinants were found to be extremely important to households’ choice of housing. The Kaiser’s measure of sampling adequacy (MSA) indicated that the strength of the relationships among the determinants was strong (MSA = 0.762). Bartlett’s test of sphericity, was significant χ² (1035) = 5013.814, p < 0.001), indicating the data were drawn from the same population and that the determinants were related. Using principal component analysis, all the 20 determinants were reduced to seven factors that accounted for some 60 per cent of the total proportion communalities. The factors were general factor, financial factor, building factor, income factor, accessibility factor, market factor and location factor.

Previous research only addressed factors affecting housing price, not a choice. This is the first study that explains determinants of housing choice determinants in Malaysia. This is the first study that involves large respondents. Previous research addressed housing in general and not affordable housing. The results will be useful to developers, homebuyers and policy makers towards affordable housing delivery.

The purpose of this paper is to benchmark national culture in the context of decent work practices in project-based industry of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). This should help in achieving successful short-term migration. The study also aims to validate the decent work practice indicators for Bangladeshi, Chinese, Indian and Pakistani construction labourers working in the UAE.

This study takes an ethnographic approach in its qualitative research methodology. The research involves observational methodology for its data collection during the execution of construction projects, semi-structured interviews to confirm the data collection during observational approach and a narrative methodology for the data collection within the labour camps, grassy fields and town streets. The qualitative data were expressed in quantitative terms to signify statistically the effect of the national culture in the context of decent work practices in this industry. Hence, the research involved triangulation in its data collection and analysis.

The study reveals that the national cultures of the migrant construction labourers in this context are not the same as identified by Geert Hofstede about four decades earlier. It was found that Indians were high in uncertainty avoidance, Pakistani construction labourers were high in masculinity, Bangladeshi construction labourers were low in long-term orientation (LTO) and individualism and Chinese labourers were found to have high individualism and LTO. This study verified decent work practice indicators for Indian, Pakistani and Bangladeshi construction labourers and identified different decent work practice indicators for Chinese construction labourers in the UAE than Indian, Pakistani and Bangladeshi construction labourers.

The study was limited to the construction labourers in the UAE. The data were collected during observation while execution construction projects and limited to visiting construction labour camps, grassy fields and town streets.

The differences in the national culture of the migrant construction labourers and the decent construction practices in the UAE have economic, social and environmental implications for construction labourers in the Arab world, for both migrant sending and receiving countries. Understanding and managing various national cultures and improving prevalent decent work practices would help to improve economic and social condition of the migrant construction labourers and help to arrest the advance of looming health problems.

The study identifies the national cultures of the migrant construction labourers in the context of decent work practices in the UAE. Improvement in the decent work practices of the migrant sending countries and the UAE and understanding of the culture of the migrants will help in preparing effective migration policy by both migrant sending and receiving countries. No study was found to have identified national cultures in the context of decent work practices and assessed the need for improvement in this regard.

Older people (particularly 75 years+) are the main users of health and social care services. They are also the age group most likely to occupy non‐decent homes. Government health and social care policy is increasingly focused on enabling more older people to remain living independently in their own homes and on delivery of care ‘at or closer to home’. This article considers how greater recognition of the negative impacts of poor‐quality and inappropriate housing on older people's health and well‐being, combined with targeted housing repair and adaptation assistance, could contribute to achieving a range of current health and social care objectives, including enabling older people to live independently in mainstream housing and better management of chronic health conditions.