Empowerment, racist incidents and casework practice

Empowerment is a key value when working with clients subject to racist incidents in housing services. Casework practice is the process whereby, for example, housing officers, anti‐social behaviour officers and neighbourhood wardens work with a tenant who has reported a racist incident to help resolve the complaint. This article focuses on the need for racist/hate incident caseworkers to be aware of the value of empowerment, and to be able to offer an empowering service when working directly with clients. The article argues that victims of racist incidents value a dedicated and non‐judgemental casework service that offers them some pathway to help, assistance and a secure sense of self and place. The caseworker is able to facilitate all this by the service they offer to their clients by recognising and responding to the values of empowerment, advocacy and a victim‐centred service.