Housing Information and Advice Officer - Twickenham, United Kingdom - Adecco UK

Adecco UK

Verified Company

Twickenham, United Kingdom

1 week ago

Posted by:

Tom O´Connor

beBee Recruiter

Description

Housing Information and Advice Officer

Public Sector
Local Authority

Full Time

Monday to Friday, 36 hours per week
Temporary Role 3 months with possible extension

- £18.34 per hour PAYE / £23.46 per hour Umbrella

Hybrid role initial few weeks in office full time for training. This will then transition to 3 days in office, 2 days at home.
Remote working available depending on experience.
Good working knowledge of homelessness legislation
Excellent written and oral skills
Ability to give housing advice on a range of housing options
Ability to assess, determine duties owed and write 184 decisions as required

Job Purpose

To work proactively and collaboratively with households who are homeless or threatened with homelessness to assist them to sustain their current housing where possible, or otherwise to secure alternative, suitable and affordable accommodation.
To hold a personal caseload of households, to agree practical and reasonable steps for the Council and the household to take to prevent and/or relieve homelessness. Households will include private or social tenants, home owners, those evicted by family members or facing relationship breakdown, and may be vulnerable and/or have complex needs.
To provide a flexible and responsive service for applicants who are homeless or threatened with homelessness by delivering services from Richmond and Wandsworth Council offices and community based locations, ensuring comprehensive housing advice is available for customers, staff and partner agencies. To carry out home visits to assess homelessness and the sustainability of the applicant's current housing.

Specific Duties and Responsibilities

To provide comprehensive advice and information covering a range of housing issues including:
Housing and tenancy rights in both the private and social rented sectors, and for home owners
Financial advice including welfare benefits, maximising income and tackling debt
Housing options including private rented sector, housing register, specialist accommodation such as refuges, low cost home ownership
The Council's statutory duties under the homelessness legislation
To assess the housing and wider needs of individuals and households, including by interview in and across both boroughs, to find tailored solutions to meet their immediate and longerterm housing needs in a manner which is considerate and empathetic towards the applicant's perspective.
Work with Social Services, the Police, Probation and other agencies across the Richmond and Wandsworth boroughs to enable applicants to access the services needed to meet their support needs and enable them to live independently.
To take the Homelessness Preventions and Solutions Service out into the community by providing housing surgeries in the Job Centre Plus, Children's Centres and other locations as required.
To visit applicants in their homes in and across both boroughs to mediate and negotiate with the home owner/housing provider to prevent homelessness wherever possible
To use the Homelessness Prevention budget to provide innovative and costeffective housing solutions to prevent and relieve homelessness.
To assist with the continual improvement of the housing service across the SSA through:
the development of the information available for customers including personal housing plans, advice leaflets, website content
Identifying opportunities to work with new service providers
Involvement in projects or new initiatives to prevent or relieve homelessness
To undertake homelessness investigations, create and seek the applicant's agreement to a bespoke and scenario specific personal housing plan, to issue statutory decisions and to discharge/end duties in accordance with the homelessness legislation
To manage a caseload of applicants who have approached the Council for assistance under the Homelessness Reduction Act, keeping your caseload under review and taking timely action to minimise the time in temporary accommodation and ensuring the Council's duties are met within statutory timescales.
To undertake comprehensive casework such as negotiating with landlords/family members, completing referrals to support agencies, helping to address problems with benefit claims and advising on options to maximise income, reviewing progress against Personal Housing Plans, making home visits where necessary/beneficial.
To work with Managers and Deputy Managers in the Housing Assessment Service to ensure that appropriate service cover is always provided across both housing offices and to promote and develop the highest customer care standards. To assist with the training and induction of newly appointed colleagues as directed.

Adecco acts as an employment agency for permanent recruitment and an employment business for the supply of temporary workers. The Adecco Group UK & Ireland is an Equal Opportunities Employer.

To speak to a recruitment expert please contact Sadie N