Housing Assessment & Advice Officer

Portsmouth City Council; Portsmouth; On-site; GBP 24,000 - 32,000; Full time

Job summary

Portsmouth City Council's Housing Needs Advice & Support team works directly with customers to help deal with housing issues and prevent homelessness in the city. You will interview customers about their housing situation and work with them to find practical solutions, including negotiation with landlords and other agencies.

You will manage a large caseload, prioritise work, and maintain clear case records.

Qualifications

• Experience with vulnerable or homeless households and assisting with housing needs.
• Ability to adapt quickly and use transferable skills.
• Clear verbal and written communication; ability to explain legislation.
• Strong negotiation and listening skills; manage expectations with customers.
• Experience in frontline customer service and safeguarding awareness.

Responsibilities

• Interview customers about their housing situation and identify solutions.
• Negotiate with landlords and housing providers to prevent homelessness.
• Build effective relationships with customers, landlords and agencies.
• Manage a large caseload, prioritise tasks and maintain case records.
• Communicate clearly in spoken and written English and adhere to safeguarding policies.

Skills

Experience with vulnerable/homeless

Adaptability

Verbal communication

Written communication

Negotiation

Active listening

Emotional resilience

Front-line service experience

Welfare benefits knowledge

Equality & safeguarding awareness

Case management & record-keeping

Proactive workload management

IT skills

Knowledge of local area

English language proficiency

Job description

Portsmouth City Council's Housing Needs Advice & Support team works directly with customers to help deal with housing issues and prevent homelessness in the city. We are a busy front-line service dealing with customers who may be vulnerable and facing homelessness. We give advice, work to prevent homelessness, assist people to resolve their housing need and make assessments of housing and support needs in accordance with the Homelessness Reduction Act 2017, the Housing Act 1996 and Portsmouth City Council's Allocations Policy. We are committed to excellent customer service, and to listening to and understanding our customers' circumstances, and working collaboratively with them to identify housing solutions. We are committed to safeguarding and promoting good practise and all employees are required to adhere to internal safeguarding policies.

You will be part of a busy team which deals with customers both face to face and by telephone. You will be interviewing customers about their housing situation and working with them to find solutions to their housing issues. This may involve negotiation with landlords, other housing providers, family members and internal and external agencies. You will need to ask personal and searching questions and listen carefully to responses so that you fully understand the customer's circumstances. Your challenge will be to identify actions and solutions to secure housing. You will need to manage a large case load, prioritise your work and have excellent organisational skills. You will also need to build effective working relationships with customers and landlords and explore all possible housing solutions to help prevent homelessness and the need to move.

Skills:

We are looking for somebody who:

• Has experience of the issues faced by vulnerable and homeless households, and a desire to assist people with housing needs, and work to proactively to resolve these issues.
• Can quickly adapt to the role, drawing on experience or transferable skills.
• Is confident and can clearly and effectively communicate verbally, interpreting legislation and explaining the impact to our customers.
• Can communicate clearly in writing, explaining legal decisions to both customers and partners.
• Understands the key elements to negotiations and can find ways to achieve outcomes for customers.
• Can listen to people and not rush to conclusions or judgements before fully understanding what is needed or wanted by a customer.
• Is emotionally resilient and able to deal with the impact of being exposed to customer's difficult circumstances, and remain professionally detached and focused even if the message you deliver involves saying no.
• Has experience of working directly with customers in a front-line service.
• Understands welfare benefits systems and the issues faced by customers experiencing financial difficulties.
• Has experience of equalities issues and is committed to equal opportunities.
• Understands safeguarding and can recognise safeguarding concerns and take appropriate action to manage risk.
• Can critically analyse information and keep clear case records.
• Works proactively and can remain motivated, working on their own initiative and organising and prioritising their workload.
• Enjoys the challenge in finding innovative solutions to problems and has the personal skills and experience to do so.
• Has IT skills suited to working in a busy office.
• Has knowledge of the local area and is able to visit people in their own homes and attend meetings in the local area.
• The ability to converse at ease with customers and provide advice in accurate spoken and written English is essential for the post.