Housing Options Officer - Wigston Magna, United Kingdom - Oadby and Wigston Borough Council

Oadby and Wigston Borough Council
Oadby and Wigston Borough Council
Verified Company
Wigston Magna, United Kingdom

1 month ago

Tom O´Connor

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Tom O´Connor

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Description

Oadby and Wigston Borough Council

Recruitment Advertisement

POSITION

Housing Options Officer

CONTRACT TYPE

Fixed term (9 Months)

PART TIME/FULL TIME

Full time 37.5 hours per week

BAND AND SCALE POINT

Band 6

SALARY PER ANNUM

£27,344-£30,151

SERVICE AREA

Housing

Brief Overview


Oadby & Wigston Council are currently looking to recruit an experienced Housing Options Officer to join us on a 9-month fixed-term contract to cover maternity leave.

This role offers a rewarding opportunity to prevent, relieve and reduce homelessness, providing advice on housing options and assisting households who are homeless or at risk of homelessness to retain their accommodation or secure alternative accommodation.

This role will report to the Housing Options Team Leader.

  • A good understanding and awareness of housing issues
  • Proven experience in a customer care role.
  • Experience of interviewing and/or providing advice to people who are under stress and/or living in unsatisfactory housing conditions.
  • Proven ability to manage difficult situations.
  • Experience of working in confidential situations with an understanding of when and how to share sensitive information with customers and relevant agencies.
  • Excellent communication skills with the ability to communicate both verbally and written
  • Confident and assertive
Please note this role will be a mix of remote working and office based working.


Our council is on a journey to achieve financial sustainability and is looking to secure its financial footing, whilst simultaneously improve our services and widen our delivery options - something that underpins our Corporate Plan.


We have an agile working culture which enables employees to work from home and flexibly to be able to balance the needs of their role and organisational requirements with their personal circumstances.


Oadby and Wigston is a great place to live, work and visit and our council is a great organisation to work for, with a great culture, we offer a competitive salary and employee benefits package.

We empower our employees to be creative in how we deliver our services, and this delivers fantastic outcomes for residents, businesses, partners and visitors alike.


CLOSING DATE FOR APPLICATIONS

5th May 2023

INTERVIEW DATE

TBC

JOB CONTEXT:


To assist in the effective delivery of the Housing Options Service, under the supervision of the Housing Options Team Leader.

Duties to include homelessness, assessing housing need of customers and liaising with other agencies, both voluntary and statutory, to ensure the necessary support packages are in place to promote sustaining of tenancy.


Ensures that all reasonable efforts are made to prevent homelessness, which will include negotiations with family/friends and/or housing providers, comprehensive welfare benefit information, detailed debt advice, negotiations with creditors/financial institutions.


MAIN DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

To investigate and issue Section 184 Homeless Decisions.

To give advice and support in the prevention of homelessness.

Promote and maintain a culture which places customers first and aims to deliver a high standard of service.

To seek to extend the range of housing options, available to applicants including arranging loans for rent deposits.

To arrange temporary accommodation for homeless applicants including bed and breakfast when necessary and referrals to hostel accommodation

To assist with the effective operation of the Council's Homeless Hostel(s).


To monitor and control any rent arrears arising from temporary accommodation accounts, including liaising with Revenue Services regarding any housing benefit claims.

Assisting in the selection of qualifying nominees for social housing tenancies.


To assist in the collection and analysis of statistical information, by maintaining up to date and accurate information relating to housing and homelessness applicants on current systems.

Making sure that new information and circumstances, relating to housing and homeless applicants is taken into account and acted upon

Identifying and supporting vulnerable housing applicants. Liaison with and referral to other support agencies where appropriate.

Maintain the computerised and manual systems and records that are required for the service

Carry out assessment visits, contact visits and support visits to home seeker/ homeless applicants when required.

Promote the Housing Options services, and particularly CBL to statutory and voluntary agencies, and other services/ organisations.

Represent the organisation at meetings, forums and events as when required.


RESPONSIBILITY FOR RESOURCES:


The post holder will be required to ensure that any data systems under his/her control are kept secure and properly managed.


KEY FUNCTIONAL LINKS WITH:


Internal:
Allemployees of the Council and Elected Members.


External:
Residents of the Borough
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