Séamus Kirk (Louth, Fianna Fail)

During the mid 1990s Dundee City Council experienced problems with nuisance neighbours and anti-social behaviour. The policy of eviction was deemed unworkable as it became clear that this approach was not solving the problem. In cases that resulted in an eviction, little was done to tackle the causes of the problem. Accommodation was not available to those who had been evicted from council properties and many families ended up in bed and breakfast accommodation, temporary housing or living with relatives. The problem was displaced rather than addressed.

In an attempt to tackle the underlying problems of nuisance neighbours and to seek long-term solutions, Dundee City Council asked the children's charity NCH to manage and develop a project. In 1996, it established the Dundee Families Project. This offered a wide range of support services to the homeless or those facing eviction as a result of anti-social behaviour. Between 1996 and 2000, 126 families were referred to the project.

The aim of the Dundee Families Project is to work with those families facing eviction and to restore families to satisfactory tenancy arrangements through appropriate and intensive support. The project offers a wide range of services for families including parenting skills, anger management courses, cookery classes, domestic budgeting and acts as a link to other services such as drug treatment and health services. Many of the families referred to this project have a history of anti-social behaviour, such as noise pollution, violence, damage to property, drug dealing, fire raising and running a protection racket while other referrals are related to family relationship problems.

The project offers three main support services to families. Outreach work and early intervention is undertaken to avoid evictions. Project staff work with families either at their home or at the project centre to address the cause of anti-social behaviour. Residential core accommodation is aimed at meeting the needs of those facing eviction. The project can provide for three families to reside at a residential unit and they are offered intensive support on a 24 hour basis. Alcohol and drug counselling is arranged for those who would benefit from it. Most families using this service stay in the residential unit for approximately nine months. The project also has 12 flats throughout Dundee offering reduced family support. Many families who have used residential core accommodation move into these flats. Once they have been shown that they can successfully live in the community, the tenancy of the accommodation is transferred to them.

There has been a marked reduction in anti-social behaviour and evictions in Dundee. Half of the referrals came from housing and social services and approximately two thirds of the cases were considered successful and these families were rehoused. One fifth of cases did not meet the expected targets and one tenth of families refused to engage with the project.

Many of the families who used the Dundee project are considered vulnerable. Research undertaken by the University of Glasgow in 2002 evaluating the project revealed that families involved had a long history of anti-social behaviour. Approximately two thirds of households had a one parent family structure and the average family size was 3.4 children. Nearly all families were poor and reliant on state benefits. Drug or alcohol problems affected 70% of adults, 50% of whom had criminal records. There was evidence of neglect affecting almost half the children and more than half of the women had experienced domestic violence.

It is widely believed that schemes like the Dundee Families Project are costly. This project, however, has been evaluated as cost effective. An assessment by the University of Glasgow estimated that it saved £117,600 per year for Dundee City Council. The council made savings as a result of the decrease in tenant evictions and because fewer children needed to be taken into care.

Evicting families from their homes does little to address the root causes of anti-social behaviour. The Dundee project offers an innovative, effective approach that reduces anti-social behaviour through tailored support and assistance. Evidence from the project found that many families causing anti-social behaviour had problems with alcohol or drug abuse and that children and women had experienced domestic violence. This further emphasises the need to ensure that adequate help and treatment is available to address these problems. The Dundee Families Project has proved successful in reducing anti-social behaviour and giving vulnerable families the necessary advice and support they need.

The local authority in Aberdeen has embraced this project, as have local authorities in Manchester on a pilot basis. To consider its potential in Ireland, we would have to establish it on a pilot basis but, at a minimum, the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government should examine in depth the lessons to be gleaned from the Dundee experience and see if they could be applied in Ireland.

See this speech in context