Portsmouth council house tenants report rise in anti-social behaviour
Officials say it's down to better recording of one-off issues
Portsmouth City Council’s latest update on its anti-social behaviour (ASB) has revealed a rise cases, but also higher levels of tenant satisfaction.
According to the report, in the year to March 2025 there were 87.5 ASB cases per thousand homes, compared with 62.3 the previous year.
Hate crime reports fell from 1.8 to 0.9 per thousand homes over the same period.
Tenant satisfaction with how ASB was handled increased slightly to 60 per cent, up from 58 per cent the previous year.
Officials said the increase in ASB cases was due to “better recording of one-off issues” and improved case management practices, rather than a genuine rise in incidents.
Survey results showed that most tenants (60 per cent) were satisfied with how ASB was dealt with, while 21 per cent were dissatisfied. Dissatisfaction was higher among younger tenants and those with disabilities.
More than half of tenants in Somerstown, Leigh Park, Buckland, Paulsgrove, Wecock Farm and Portsea reported being satisfied, compared with 42 per cent dissatisfaction in Landport.
Residents most often said they were satisfied because they “did not experience anti-social behaviour often” or because their landlord “did their best to try and resolve” issues.
Those who were dissatisfied felt that “issues were not taken seriously” or that the landlord could be “more proactive”.
A resident consortium spokesperson described ASB as a “perennial problem” and said its rise was partly due to a lack of police presence and police community support officers. “That presence is at least a deterrent if nothing else,” they added.
Cabinet member for housing and tackling homelessness, Councillor Darren Sanders, said: “One of the few things that unites the 42 councillors on this authority is that we get reports of ASB regularly.
“We all know there aren’t enough coppers knocking around, we’ll have four hours of arguments at council meetings as to why and whose fault it was.”
He noted that many residents wanted the council to address ASB, but that it was “very often that the council can’t do something.”
Cllr Sanders added that due to hate crime, which he argued is increasing in the city, it has become vital that people “feel safe in their own homes”.