Briefing for Stage One of the debate on Antisocial Behaviour

Key points:

- The bill compounds the view that it is only social tenants who are responsible for antisocial behaviour, by providing harsher punishment for those in social housing. The bill extends the use of Anti-Social Behaviour Orders (ASBOs). Because of the way the orders currently work, social housing tenants can be evicted as a result of being served with an ASBO. This sanction does not apply to than those who own or rent in the private sector. The bill should rectify this anomaly by separating the link between ASBOs and tenancies. Instead, the bill compounds the problem by extending ASBOs to under-16s and giving courts the power to grant ASBOs. This will, consequently, extend the threat of eviction for those living in social housing. Similarly, the operation of Closure Orders could impact harshly on those social housing tenants who claim housing benefit. These families could be forced into high levels of debt as a result of being moved from their home.

- The bill will punish those who are not guilty of anti-social behaviour. The Housing (Scotland) Act 2001 introduced an important change to how ASBOs work. While they were originally intended to respond specifically to the bad behaviour of an individual, they can now under the demoted tenancy. As a result, the behaviour of a child can cause the homelessness of a whole family. Closure Orders will have a similar impact. The bill sets out no measures for supporting or protecting other members of a household who may never have been anti-social, but whose home is now subject to a Closure Order. The Executive claims that this bill will deal with the most extreme forms of ASB. Unfortunately the bill also punishes those who have never been anti-social, but happen to live with someone who has.

- The bill could dramatically increase the levels of homelessness in Scotland. The bill could undo some of the progressive and effective measures introduced by the Scottish Executive in recent years to tackle homelessness. If Closure Orders are applied to hostels, hundreds of people could be made homeless. Furthermore, extending the use of ASBOs could result in more tenancies being demoted, potentially increasing the number of evictions.

- Shelter is concerned about the potential effectiveness of the bill to deal directly with the behaviour of offenders. Shelter is concerned that the bill focuses too much on sanctions and not enough on changing behaviour. Closure Orders, for example, move a family from a property for a short amount of time, rather than actually resolving the behaviour.