Community Housing Rights Lawyer

Central England Law Centre; Coventry; On-site; GBP 35,000 - 52,000; Full time

Job summary

Central England Law Centre Limited is seeking an experienced housing caseworker or solicitor to join us in a new role that combines housing casework, community lawyering and systemic change.

You will support frontline projects with housing advice and casework, supervise other caseworkers, and work with communities and VCSE organisations to identify recurring housing issues and develop practical responses for wider change.

Qualifications

• Senior housing caseworker with 5+ years’ housing casework experience, or a solicitor with 3+ years’ PQE in housing law.
• Strong commitment to social justice and working with communities.
• Experience supervising others and handling a complex caseload.

Responsibilities

• Act as CELC’s internal housing resource for frontline projects, supporting and supervising non-housing specialists to identify housing issues and appropriate referrals.
• Identify intersecting legal issues and provide coordinated, holistic support for clients across CELC.
• Provide specialist housing advice, casework and court representation via telephone, face-to-face and community-based appointments.
• Provide specialist housing input to CELC’s community partnerships and projects, including advisory sessions and legal health checks.
• Maintain high standards of case management, recording and client care in line with CELC’s quality requirements, Lexcel and Legal Aid Agency requirements.

Skills

Housing rights expertise

Supervision experience

Community engagement

Education

PQE in housing law

Job description

Hours: Full-time (37 hours/week) or Part-time (minimum 30 hours considered)

Contract: Permanent

About the Role

Could you use your housing rights expertise not only to resolve individual problems, but to help communities understand their rights and tackle the wider causes of housing injustice?

Central England Law Centre is looking for an experienced housing caseworker or solicitor to join us in a new role bringing together housing casework, community lawyering and systemic change.

You will provide some housing advice and casework, with a particular focus on early intervention and preventing problems from escalating. But this role goes further than individual casework, you will work alongside community groups and VCSE organisations to understand the housing and homelessness issues affecting the people they support, strengthen their understanding of rights and help identify recurring and systemic problems.

Within CELC, you will work across our different areas of legal expertise to ensure that housing problems are considered alongside other issues affecting people's lives. You will also support generalist caseworkers to recognise housing issues and supervise the housing related advice and casework they provide.

Crucially, you will help us connect what we learn from individual cases, communities, partners and our own data. You will work with colleagues and partners to identify patterns of unmet need and develop practical responses that can improve outcomes for individuals and contribute to wider change.

We are looking for someone with significant housing law and casework experience, a strong commitment to social justice, and an interest in working differently with communities and partners.

The post is open to senior housing caseworkers (ideally with at least five years' relevant experience) and qualified solicitors (ideally with at least three years' post-qualification experience and relevant housing law experience).

If you are interested in using your housing expertise to help people now, strengthen the organisations around them and tackle the problems that keep bringing people back for legal help, we would like to hear from you.

Key Responsibilities

Housing rights advice

• Act as CELC’s internal housing resource for our frontline projects, supporting and supervising non-housing specialist caseworkers to identify housing issues, undertake appropriate initial advice and casework, and recognise when they can progress a matter themselves and when a specialist referral is required.
• Work with colleagues across CELC to identify intersecting legal issues and provide coordinated, holistic support for clients.
• Provide some specialist housing advice, casework and court representation through telephone, face-to-face and community-based appointments.
• Provide specialist housing input to CELC’s community partnerships and projects, including advice sessions, legal health checks and providing accessible legal information where appropriate.
• Maintain high standards of case management, recording and client care in accordance with CELC’s quality requirements, Lexcel and Legal Aid Agency requirements.

Creating systemic change in partnership with communities

• Build trusted relationships with community groups and VCSE organisations, spending time in community settings to understand the housing and related rights issues people are experiencing.
• Build partners’ capability to recognise housing rights issues, identify recurring or systemic problems and connect people with appropriate legal support.
• Help analyse evidence from individual cases, organisational data including insight from colleagues and experiences and priorities of affected communities to identify patterns and emerging problems.
• Work with colleagues, communities and partners to develop ideas for using legal expertise and legal interventions to address identified systemic issues and achieve strategic change.
• Represent CELC at relevant housing, community and partnership networks and forums and bring a legal and rights-based perspective to wider conversations about housing, homelessness, poverty and inequality.

What We Are Looking For (Please see the recruitment pack for full details on our website)

• Senior Caseworker with 5+ years’ housing casework experience, or a Qualified Solicitor with 3+ years’ PQE in housing law.
• Deep understanding of housing and homelessness law.
• Proven ability to supervise others and handle a complex caseload.
• Strong dedication to social justice, client confidentiality, and non-judgemental client care.

We warmly welcome applications from diverse and lived-experience backgrounds.