Tenancy Sustainment Officer

West Sussex County Council; Chichester; On-site; GBP 41,000 - 44,000; Full time

Job summary

West Sussex County Council is seeking a Tenancy Sustainment Officer to join the Refugee, Resettlement and Migration Service in Chichester. The role involves one‑to‑one support, affordability assessments and guidance to help households establish and sustain tenancies across countywide housing options.

You will work with housing providers, landlords and external partners, delivering information sessions and coordinating with teams to secure positive housing outcomes for refugee families.

Qualifications

• Experience of working in partnerships with housing providers and external agencies.
• Ability to lead multi‑agency meetings and plans.
• Strong influencing, negotiating and advocacy skills.
• Proactive, adaptable and able to respond to changing circumstances.
• Ability to stay up to date with changes in housing legislation and policy.

Responsibilities

• Engage with local housing providers to build relationships and identify support options.
• Educate Housing Options staff to raise awareness of client needs and proactive care referrals.
• Identify housing options across social, voluntary and private sectors and coordinate use of them.
• Support workers with clients under Sec 21 National Assistance Act 1948 to secure housing solutions.
• Negotiate with landlords and coordinate with internal teams to plan services.
• Provide briefs to Teams and housing partners to facilitate property acquisition.
• Inform teams on when to alert health or social care colleagues about at‑risk clients.

Skills

Partnerships with housing providers

Multi‑agency meeting leadership

Influencing & advocacy skills

Proactive and adaptable

Updated knowledge of housing policy

Analytical thinking

Job description

We are seeking a Tenancy Sustainment Officer to serve as a key member of the Refugee, Resettlement, and Migration service (RRMS).

About the role

In this role, you will be part of our dedicated Tenancy Sustainment Team, working closely with internal colleagues and external partners to support households within the Refugee Resettlement and Migration Service (RRMS).

You will provide one-to-one tenancy sustainment support helping individuals and families to establish, maintain and sustain tenancies. This includes undertaking affordability assessments to ensure accommodation options are financially sustainable and support budgeting, financial planning and money management. Educating tenants on their rights and responsibilities, as well as those of landlords.

Providing advice and guidance on tenancy related issues. Liaising with housing providers, landlords and estate agents to resolve issues and support positive housing outcomes. Giving advice and guidance with property searches to secure alternative accommodation where required. Develop and deliver information sessions on various housing related topics to support awareness and understanding. Working collaboratively with partners to help households integrate successfully into their local communities and maintain long-term housing stability.

Salary: £41,177 to £44,253 per annum

Contract Type: Fixed term 18-month contract

Working Pattern: Full-time (37 hours per week)

Location: Your base location will be Chichester, with required countywide travel.

Please note that you will need to be able to travel independently around the county, including to areas that may not be easily accessible by public transport. Pool cars and pool bikes available.

Day to Day Role

Our work in Refugee, Resettlement and Migration Service and any given day can often feel quite different from the next!

This role will involve:

• Engaging with local housing providers to build good relationships and establish the provisions / support they and private landlords can offer in this holistic assessment.
• Educating and partnering with Housing Options staff to gain awareness and understanding of the client group and of proactive care, making sure that they identify residents who should be referred to the Teams for bespoke support.
• Identifying all available housing options in the social, voluntary and private sectors and supporting the Teams to make best use of them.
• Supporting allocated workers who have clients that are accommodated under Sec 21 National Assistance Act 1948 so that robust housing solutions are found quickly and relevant and timely Housing Benefit claims are made.
• Negotiating directly with landlords where complexity requires in-depth understanding of housing law.
• Liaising within WSCC, specifically with the People and Property Manager, Contracts Officer, Supported Housing, and Health Housing and Social Care Advisor (Coastal Area), to identify needs and plan services to meet local housing priorities.
• Providing briefings to Teams and housing provider partners to facilitate successful property acquisition.
• Providing briefings for Teams and housing organisations in how and when to alert health or social care colleagues about clients who are at risk / vulnerable and require support.

You'll need to be able to travel independently to various meeting venues and other locations across the county, and to work flexibly to meet the needs of refugee families. There is a regular and intrinsic requirement to communicate in English with members of the public.

Required Qualifications and Skills:

Please refer to the job description for the full list of key skills in your covering letter and detail how you demonstrate the skills/knowledge in your career to date.

Key Skills:

• Ability to work in partnerships with housing providers, colleagues and a variety of other external agencies in order to deliver the most effective service, including the ability to lead, facilitate and coordinate multi‑agency meetings and plans.
• Ability to work professionally with clients and agencies, to reflect on own practice and learn from experience. To take responsibility for own performance and be proactive in relation to own work and professional development. Ability to be proactive in having up‑to‑date knowledge and understanding of changes in legislation, white papers, current research and best practice developments.
• Exercise highly developed influencing, negotiating and persuasive skills or advocacy, in order to convince others to adopt policies and courses of action they might not otherwise wish to take.
• Solution focussed with the ability to analyse complex situations and provide forward thinking strategies and solutions that consider a variety of possible solutions and balance risks/resources and desired outcomes. Ability to quickly assimilate information, consider the issues/risks/resource implications and persuade stakeholders to adopt the most appropriate course of recommended action.
• Ability to think creatively, innovatively and laterally and to adapt to changing situations in a measured and flexible manner in order to adapt the advice and guidance provided to suit any change in circumstance whether legislative, structural, partnership related etc.
• Ability to research, analyse and interpret information to make effective judgements in order to review the effectiveness of activities and service provision, plan long term and set timescales, including understanding the broader business environment and context in order to take account of the broader impacts on business.

Qualifications and/or experience:

Please refer to the

Job Description for more information on the Qualifications and Experience required for this role. Key Skills are also noted in further detail.

Rewards and Benefits

We aim to create a supportive and dynamic working environment where employees can achieve their full potential, achieve a healthy work-life balance and are rewarded for the work they do.

A laptop and mobile will be supplied if applicable to your role. You will benefit from generous annual leave, plus the opportunity to buy additional leave and an excellent

A range of discounts give our staff access to hundreds of offers; groceries, travel, cinema tickets, days out, leisure activities, high street retailers and the opportunity to save over £1,000 a year through our West Sussex Choices benefits platform.

For more information about the wide variety of benefits, you can take advantage of please visit our

Rewards and Benefits page.

Further Information

The reference number for this role is 359.For issues or queries regarding your application please contact

We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults. This post is subject to right to work within the UK, enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check, satisfactory references, and a health check.

Equity, inclusion and accessibility is very important to West Sussex County Council. We welcome and encourage applications from everyone, as this helps us build a diverse and talented workforce, that reflects the communities we serve. We ensure our approach to recruitment is flexible and supportive to enable all applicants to be at their best and to ensure they have the best possible chance of success.

We operate a guaranteed interview scheme for applicants that have a disability, are a veteran or are a care leaver. More information can be found on our

page.

We do reserve the right to close this advertisement early if we receive a high volume of suitable applications. We encourage you to submit your application at your earliest convenience.