Housing Options Officer
- Essex
- £31.00 per hour
- Temporary
- Full-time
- To provide a comprehensive frontline service to customers seeking advice and assistance
- with regards to their housing needs, irrespective of tenure, either in person or by telephone
- To participate in the Housing Options duty rota (including Triage) and respond to
- emergencies as required
- To take action to prevent and relieve homelessness, including visits to applicants' parents, negotiation with landlords and mortgage companies, referral to other agencies and use of the Council's Homelessness Prevention Fund.
- To provide customers with expert, professional, comprehensive advice and information on
- all aspects of housing options work specific to their assessed needs: including undertaking basic financial and benefits assessments.
- To produce Personalised Housing Plans following assessment of needs; to monitor customers' actions and to perform the authority's actions.
- To help customers access a range of housing opportunities, including social housing, private rented accommodation, supported housing and shared/home ownership and to assess customers' suitability for the Council's Deposit Bond and/or Rental Loan schemes
- To liaise, establish, maintain and develop links with Social Care teams, health providers, Registered Providers, private landlords and other statutory or voluntary agencies as appropriate and ensure that referrals are made as necessary, recorded and followed up as required
- To attend case conferences and joint assessment interviews with Social Care teams or other organisations as necessary
- To facilitate Housing Advice Surgeries and provide out-reach services at other venues as required
- To undertake formal investigations under Pt V11 Housing Act 1996 (as amended) and associated guidance and legislation when homelessness cannot be prevented, and to issue cogent s184 decision letters within required timescales
- Good interviewing and interpersonal skills, excellent organisational and communication skills coupled with an empathetic style. Strong IT skills and letter writing skills are also important.
- Experience of providing housing advice to the public and of liaising with other statutory, voluntary or private sector organisations
- Previous experience of working in a housing service or a similar area of work
- Experience of issuing Personalised Housing Plan (PHP)
- Experience of writing s184 decisions
- Willingness to carry out face to face housing options interview with homeless applicants.
- Ability to manage own workload, be proactive while working within a team to achieve team objectives.
- Experience of using Civica (Abritas)