A way forward
The riots which swept many parts of England last August shook the country to the core and rightly so.
The publication this week of the final report by the Riots, Communities and Victims Panel represented an opportunity not only to draw some insights as to why the riots happened, but also to present a way forward. While it delivers concisely on the former, it falls down on the latter.
It makes some useful points around the benefits of joint working between public services so as to target existing resources more effectively at helping more people. But in talking about implementing a series of ‘red lines’ of service delivery, it misses the key role that housing providers are already successfully playing in doing precisely this in deprived communities across the UK.
In a time of cuts it is more important than ever that this crucial work which we highlighted in our Riot Report, published in February in conjunction with the Chartered Institute of Housing and the National Housing Federation, continues.
