This is an interesting idea, reported in Inside Housing:
Jon Lord, chief executive of Bolton at Home, said the association would have a new IT package for this purpose “imminently” and that Greater Manchester Housing Providers (GMHP) would be discussing how best to co-operate on the issue at an upcoming meeting.
The package was provided by the police as part of the government’s Prevent strategy for anti-radicalisation.
Co-operation between housing associations and counter-terrorism police consists of regular briefings from police on how best to spot the signs of radicalisation and a focus on sustaining community cohesion.
Gareth Swarbrick, chair of the GMHP Crime and Disorder Group, explained that the North West Counter Terrorism Unit regularly briefs the group on “terrorism threat levels, radicalisation and how housing officers should share any concerns”. In his capacity as chief executive of Rochdale Boroughwide Housing (RBH), he added: “Locally all RBH frontline neighbourhood housing officers and enforcement officers have received training on Prevent and there are plans to roll this out to other frontline teams, including repairs [teams].”
In 2014, Mears Group and Adactus were part of a pilot scheme with Greater Manchester Police which trained frontline staff to combat extremism. Mears Group has since abandoned the programme.
Ashram Housing Association, now part of the Accord Group, received £150,000 from the government for the Prevent programme between 2009 and 2011, but it is not clear how long this continued.