AQW 12385/22-27


Ms Connie Egan
Alliance Party
North Down


Tabled Date: 22/05/2024
Answered On Date: 12/06/2024
Priority Written: No


Question:
To ask the Minister for Communities to detail the advice his Department provides to housing associations in relation to housing people with a history of anti-social behaviour and sex offences in the same vicinity as vulnerable adults.


Answer:
My Department provides the Housing Executive with detailed ASB guidance which covers a number of different scenarios including guidance on when someone is ineligible for an allocation as a result of unacceptable behaviour including serious Anti-Social Behaviour.  This is incorporated into Chapter 2 of the Housing Selection Scheme Guidance Manual. 
The Criminal Justice Order (NI) 2008 created the Public Protection Arrangements for Northern Ireland (PPANI) which brings together a number of agencies and departments including the Police, Probation, Prison Service, Health & Social Care Boards and Health & Social Care Trusts, Northern Ireland Housing Executive, NSPCC to work together to provide effective assessment and management of the risks posed by certain sexual and violent offenders, including individuals who have committed violent offences within a domestic setting.
The Chief Executive of the Housing Executive has advised of the following:
“In respect of housing individuals with relevant sex offences within PPANI the decision as to whether an offer of accommodation is suitable is a matter for the relevant PPANI agency, primarily the Police Service of Northern Ireland or Probation Board for Northern Ireland. In such circumstances any housing association making an offer of accommodation to a person within PPANI should in the first instance contact the Housing Executive who will liaise with the relevant PPANI agency in respect of the suitability or otherwise of any offer. The Housing Executive and other PPANI agencies have sought to promote the PPANI arrangements by means of a number of workshops with Housing Associations whereby each PPANI organisation outlined the support they offer in respect of risk management. Attendance at such sessions was at the discretion of housing associations.”