Colchester Borough Homes - Community plan analysis

This report was commissioned by Colchester Borough Homes (CBH) and the University of Essex (UoE) HEFCE funded Catalyst Project to assist with the development of the CBH Community Plan. The Community Plan sets out to empower members of the community and CBH staff to recognise domestic abuse and to report suspicions to CBH. Having this information will not only enable early intervention but improve the capacity within the community. This report aims to provide a baseline from which CBH can plan their interventions and target their resources. A link has been identified between reports of anti-social behaviour (ASB) and domestic abuse, with 40 per cent of tenants who have suffered Domestic Abuse having had complaints made against them for Anti-Social Behaviour (CIH, 2018). With other research finding that people experience abuse for an average of three years before engaging with support services (Safelives, 2015), housing providers have found that they are ideally placed to identify domestic abuse and act as a first point of contact. Key to pushing this work forward has been the Domestic Abuse Housing Alliance’s (DAHA), which was set up as a partnership between three agencies (Gentoo, Peabody and Standing Together) aimed at improving the housing sectors response to domestic abuse (DAHA, 2018). CBH are keen to take a proactive approach in identifying victims earlier, which will enable them to provide support and help victims to escape their abuse. The Young Colchester: Life Chances, Assets and Anti-Social Behaviour report, another Catalyst Project funded collaboration between Colchester Borough Council and the University of Essex, found that police reported ASB and CBH ASB cases had quite different geographic distributions. This report expands upon this work and offers CBH a baseline from which they can target future services and interventions.