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Housing Officer

companyPortsmouth City Council
locationPortsmouth, UK
PublishedPublished: Published 1 week ago
Housing officer
Job Description

Housing Officer

Fixed Term Contract/Secondment for 12 months

Location - Portsmouth

Salary - Band 07: £31,067 to £35,235 p.a.

Full time 37 Hours per week

This particular vacancy is at Somerstown Area Housing Office initially but you could be based at any of the Area Housing Offices

Portsmouth City Council is the largest social landlord in the area with responsibility for managing over 17,000 council owned and leasehold properties!

If you believe you can make a valuable, positive contribution to our team then please read below for more about the role. Please take the time to read 'how to apply' carefully to ensure your application is not disregarded. DON'T JUST SEND A CV.

What's in it for me?

You will be starting on a salary of £31,067 going up to £35,235 as you progress.

The Full-time post is typically worked across 5 working days Monday - Friday between 8:30-17:00.

You will need to have the use of a car for the role, but the Council will pay 45p per mile you drive as part of your Housing Officer Role.

We value our employees and want them to reach their full potential. Although there is an induction period, you will be expected to learn on the job with the full support of the management team and your peers. Additional training is available if appropriate and as necessary.

What is the job?

As a Housing Officer, you will be responsible for rent management, ending tenancies, the allocation of new tenancies and tenancy management of social housing tenancies.

You will be expected to help tenants meet their responsibilities in order that they can sustain their tenancies as outlined in their tenancy agreement whilst delivering excellent customer service.

Housing Officers support their customers by providing budgeting advice and assistance with maximising income. Money Advisor will support the Housing Officer with this task.

A Housing Officer will also play an integral part of outgoing residents ending their tenancies and continuing the with the journey of allocating the vacant property to a new resident and starting their tenancy in a successful way.

Please click HERE for the full job profile!

Who is the person?

As one of the housing officers you will need to have the following:
  • Demonstrate experience of building a positive rapport with customers.
  • Demonstrate an ability of working with customers in a challenging front-line service and be comfortable visiting customers in their home.
  • Understand the demands of the customer, prioritise and respond accordingly, whilst tailoring your approach to the needs of different individuals.
  • Have experience of using your sound judgement to make informed decisions regarding the cases you manage and being able to consider all the facts of a case, including taking a lead in partnership working with others and utilising other resources to achieve the right result for customers.
  • Demonstrate examples of how you would provide help and support to our customers to enable them to meet their responsibilities as a tenant and actions you may take as a consequence of a tenant not adhering to the tenancy agreement.
  • Be pro-active and highly motivated with the ability to work quickly, accurately and consistently when under pressure, managing your time effectively and be able to manage conflicting priorities appropriately.
  • Be able to keep calm and stay objective when dealing with sensitive / challenging situations and be able to effectively manage challenging customers.
  • Be able to work independently in a focused, diligent and transparent manner.
  • Be competent with using Microsoft software including Excel, Word and Outlook and be able to use IT systems to keep clear, accurate, concise and methodical records.
  • Be able to effectively communicate to customers, colleagues, departments, agencies and councillor enquiries both verbally and in writing. Ensuring your record keeping always acts as a clear audit trail of your decision making, supporting the strong ownership of your patch.
  • Be confident with speaking in public, including representing the local authority at Court hearings (usually without legal representation) and at multi-agency case conferences.
  • You may be expected to work from any of the 7 area offices and carry out work outside of office hours as per the needs of the service and customer.
  • You will need access to a car daily in order to be able to support customers effectively.
How to apply?
  • DON'T JUST SEND IN A CV
  • Please write to tell us how you meet the criteria for the role, and attach this as a cover letter in the 'Supporting Documents' section
  • You will need to demonstrate transferable skills from your current or previous employment against each of the points described in 'Who is the person?'
  • Applicants will be shortlisted based on their ability to use good examples illustrating what they've done, why they've done it and how they went about it?
Please click HERE for the full job profile!

Closing date: 29th December 2024

Assessments: 7th January 2025

If you are applying as a secondment, please ensure you have the permission of your line manager and state this in your application

Previous applicants from within the last 6 months need not apply

We are a disability confident employer - committed to ensuring that our recruitment and selection process is inclusive and accessible and welcome applications from all areas of society.

We really appreciate our employees and fully realise they are essential to our success and look to offer an inclusive, supportive working environment where employees can reach their potentials with a healthy work life balance, offering the following rewards:
  • A generous pension scheme
  • Up to 31 days annual leave per year pro rata + bank holidays
  • We offer flexible working options including hybrid working with a minimum of two days office based per week pro rata, giving you the flexibility to work up to three days at home every week. Hybrid working is dependent on the role and service needs, exact details will be discussed with you at interview.
  • A range of retail discounts via our reward portal offering discounts at retailers including IKEA, Currys, Tesco
  • Free Access to Employee Assistance Program (EAP) and wellbeing support
  • Access to a wide range of training and development opportunities including apprenticeships
  • Potential to purchase additional annual leave
  • Business travel support and initiatives, including bike loans
Please click HERE to see all of the benefits of working with us!

Should you require any support in completing the application form please contact recruit@portsmouthcc.gov.uk