Housing Options Officer – BF4975

Buckingham Futures; Essex; On-site; GBP 60,000 - 80,000; Full time

Job summary

A local authority in Essex seeks a Housing Options Officer to provide front-line services to families facing housing difficulties. The role involves assessing needs, preventing homelessness, and creating personalized housing plans. Successful candidates will possess strong interpersonal skills, experience in housing services, and the ability to manage a diverse workload. The position offers a competitive hourly rate, with a commitment to staff engagement and innovation.

Qualifications

• Experience of providing housing advice to the public.
• Experience of liaising with statutory, voluntary, or private organizations.
• Previous experience in a housing service or a similar role.
• Experience of issuing Personalised Housing Plans.
• Experience of writing s184 decisions.
• Willingness to conduct face-to-face interviews.
• Ability to manage workload proactively.

Responsibilities

• Provide a frontline service to individuals experiencing housing difficulties.
• Assess housing needs and provide advice on housing options.
• Prevent and relieve homelessness through various actions.
• Create and monitor Personalised Housing Plans.
• Establish links with Social Care teams and other agencies.
• Facilitate Housing Advice Surgeries.

Skills

Interviewing skills

Interpersonal skills

Organisational skills

Communication skills

IT skills

Letter writing skills

Tools

Civica (Abritas)

Job description

Housing Options Officer – Local Authority based in Essex

Temporary, Full Time

£31.19 ph

Closing Date: 2nd December 2025

The purpose of this role is to provide a front-line, customer-focused service to individuals and families experiencing housing difficulties. To assess housing needs and provide specialist advice in respect of all housing options in order to prevent and relieve homelessness. When prevention opportunities have been exhausted, to undertake investigations to determine the Council’s duties under PtV11 Housing Act 1996, as amended, and ensure that statutory obligations are carried out. Please note you will be required to work on site a minimum of 2 days per week.

Please note that this role will be based on site 2-3 days per week and will require you to be on site full time during the initial training period.

Accountabilities:

The main accountabilities will include, but not be limited to:

• To provide a comprehensive frontline service to customers seeking advice and assistance with regards to their housing needs, irrespective of tenure, either in person or by telephone.
• To participate in the Housing Options duty rota (including Triage) and respond to emergencies as required.
• To take action to prevent and relieve homelessness, including visits to applicants’ parents, negotiation with landlords and mortgage companies, referral to other agencies and use of the Council’s Homelessness Prevention Fund.
• To provide customers with expert, professional, comprehensive advice and information on all aspects of housing options work specific to their assessed needs: including undertaking basic financial and benefits assessments.
• To produce Personalised Housing Plans following assessment of needs; to monitor customers’ actions and to perform the authority’s actions.
• To help customers access a range of housing opportunities, including social housing, private rented accommodation, supported housing and shared/home ownership and to assess customers’ suitability for the Council’s Deposit Bond and/or Rental Loan schemes.
• To liaise, establish, maintain and develop links with Social Care teams, health providers, Registered Providers, private landlords, and other statutory or voluntary agencies as appropriate and ensure that referrals are made as necessary, recorded, and followed up as required.
• To attend case conferences and joint assessment interviews with Social Care teams or other organizations as necessary.
• To facilitate Housing Advice Surgeries and provide outreach services at other venues as required.
• To undertake formal investigations under Pt V11 Housing Act 1996 (as amended) and associated guidance and legislation when homelessness cannot be prevented, and to issue cogent s184 decision letters within required timescales.

The Experience You Will Bring:

To be successful in this post you will need:

• Good interviewing and interpersonal skills, excellent organisational and communication skills coupled with an empathetic style. Strong IT skills and letter writing skills are also important.
• Experience of providing housing advice to the public and of liaising with other statutory, voluntary or private sector organisations.
• Previous experience of working in a housing service or a similar area of work.
• Experience of issuing Personalised Housing Plan (PHP).
• Experience of writing s184 decisions.
• Willingness to carry out face to face housing options interview with homeless applicants.
• Ability to manage your own workload, be proactive while working within a team to achieve team objectives.
• Experience of using Civica (Abritas).

This local authority is a great place to work. They pride themselves on their creative, innovative and forward thinking approach which is led by their staff. They are committed to having an engaged workforce who understand our strategy and how they can help deliver it.

What you should do next

If you are interested in finding out more about this role, we would love to hear from you. Please contact [e-mail], [e-mail] or [e-mail]. Alternatively, call us on: 02081254321.