about these drugs?

[doggyandteddy]

We live in block of flats, with 2 kids (age 2 and 3). In the stairwell there is a load of drug related stuff - I mean, burnt tin foil, dog ends of roll up cigarettes, rolled up tubes of paper etc...

1. AIBU not to want my kids to grow up round this?
2. what can I do about it? (we live in housing association property?)

1. YABU
2. Report it to your housing officer

Poor you. As a child we briefly lived in a block of flats where this sort of thing constantly went on. I have clear memories of having to walk around groups of guys smoking weed on the stairwell (at the age of about 8 yrs old - this was in broad daylight, after school time...), and of asking my mum what all the needles and burnt tin foil were used for . you shouldnt have to out up with it. Take photos, if you can, and write and phone your council / housing officer / environmental health people.

Right, am going to take pics as evidence. should i report to police? or just take up with housing officer?

Most housing associations will try and do something if you approach them the right way. It can be hard for them to actually stop it though and it may take a while. Have a quiet talk with them about it.

Do you have a security door on the block and are these the children of tenents?

As for moving it's very nearly impossible. The government work out the most you should be spending on a flat in your area. They work out the maximum housing benefit based on that even though there will be none available at that price.

Also most landlords won't take tenents on any kind of benefits. There are even posts on MN from landlords saying that they won't and why.

Hi onager,
there is a security door on the block, but in the last 6 months it has been kicked in 3 times and the housing association says it is a waste of time fixing it. There is also a back door which has been broken too!

That doesn't sound very promising if they are giving up.

Personally I don't like security doors since they make it hard to get stuff delivered, but if you have a current problem you need one. One place I lived in had a camera that showed the door and was wired to the same cable as the communal TV aerial. It meant you could switch your TV to a channel which showed visitors AND people kicking the door in. Very handy and can't have been all that expensive. Not compared to the cost of replacing the door anyway.

I'd try asking about exchanges/transfers within the housing association. I'd also try asking them about CCTV. They don't want the place messed up either, but they probably feel like they can't win.

You can report it to the police, but unless you get lucky they are pretty useless. The only thing they might do is contact the housing and nudge them into doing something.

An exchange might seem like a long shot, but I got out of a terrible area that way. The guy needed to be nearer his work and didn't care about anything else.

bump for the evening crowd

Get onto your MP. They can be very helpful with these sorts of things. MP letters are often like magic wands being waved in front of slack housing associations and numb/battle weary customer service people.

Being cynical here, there's an election in a year or so, tell them you want them to publicly take the credit for clearing up the estate as long as they keep your name out of it.