Vacancies

Housing Solutions Officers

Main Responsibility

The overall role responsibilities will depend on what level you join us at. You will be preventing homelessness by providing housing advice and assistance to people facing homelessness and carrying out homelessness prevention/relief work. This could involve providing customers with housing prevention advice supporting them to sustain their current accommodation or support them to secure alternative accommodation through the provision of personal housing plans. Our more experienced Officers will manage a wide range of complex cases, establishing ongoing relationships with service users to successfully prevent or relieve homelessness.

Officers work jointly with other services and partners to prevent homelessness and lead, attend and manage multi professional meetings when appropriate. You will carry out visits and complete appointments in the home and all appropriate locations to ensure prompt assessment of cases to prevent homelessness, sustain accommodation or seek alternative solutions.

The Ideal Candidate

For our entry level Officers, we are looking for:

• Understanding of the legislative frameworks and statutory requirements relating to the Housing Solutions Service and knowledge of relevant legislation.
• Understanding Safeguarding, Care Act assessments and requirements.
• Awareness of the Welfare Reform Act and housing allocations as covered by the Housing Act 1996 Part VI and Part VII.
• An understanding of current issues affecting social housing and private housing provision, and of range of housing options and homelessness prevention approaches.
• Evidence of creative problem solving, involving difficult situations.
• Written and verbal communication skills, with ability to provide negotiation and the ability to work collaboratively with other services and partners.

From a more experienced Officer, we are looking for: 

• Good level of understanding of the legislative frameworks and statutory requirements relating to the Housing Solutions Service and knowledge of relevant legislation.
• Understanding Safeguarding, Care Act assessments and requirements.
• Commitment to CIH or other qualification related to housing/homelessness completed (level 2 or level 3).
• Supports the development of less experienced colleagues by completing peer-reviews: decisions, correspondence, or personal housing plans. Undertake case reviews with a less experienced office.
• Act as mentor, providing guidance and support to less experienced employees, recognising issues and resolves them.
• Contribute to the promotion, development, and implementation of alternative initiatives to ensure the service is operating under best value to achieve a reduction in homelessness cases and ensure it is adapting to the needs of the customer.
• Demonstrate ability and competence in assessing cases independently without reference to a Deputy Manager.
• Lead on specialist areas of work as appropriate seeking resolutions to problems independently.
• Should you be offered an Officer role, as part of the pre-employment checks a Basic DBS will be actioned for you and BPSS referencing.
• Officers will need access to their own transport to facilitate working in various locations.

Package Description

In addition to your salary, we offer a range of benefits including:

• Great holiday benefits - most roles include 28 days annual leave every year on top of public (bank) holidays, increasing to 32 days after five years.  In addition, there is a holiday purchase scheme allowing staff to purchase up to 5 additional days of leave each year.

• Excellent pension – everyone who works for us can join the national Local Government Pension Scheme, widely regarded as one of the best available.

• A full range of family friendly policies including enhanced maternity, adoption and paternity support and a childcare subsidy.

• Access to an award-winning employee benefits programme that includes a health cash plan, a low-cost bike purchase scheme as well as high street discounts and money off entertainment and travel.

• Blue Light Card - employees working within social care can qualify for an additional range of discounts from national retailers and local businesses.

Our roles are either designated ‘site based’ or ‘home based’. ‘Site based’ roles can include up to two days a week working from home whilst ‘home based’ roles are based at home four days a week.  Of course, managers designate which category roles are in based on the needs of the service and the circumstances.

About The Organisation

Milton Keynes City Council is a large, modern and financially stable employer with around 2,500 people working across our eight areas. Together we provide local residents and businesses with a wide range of important round-the-clock services and aim to make our city a better place to live.

We work hard because of the demands placed on us, like protecting children from harm or preventing homelessness. However, working for the city is always rewarding and everyone has the opportunity to make a real difference. 

We’re very proud of our diversity and are committed to having a workforce that reflects the community we serve. Whatever your background, you will be welcome here if you share our values of being dedicated, respectful and collaborative.

We offer great training and support and because of the size and scale of the organisation there are always new opportunities to explore when it’s time for a new role.

If you’d like to know more about how we do things and what matters to us, take a look at our short booklet What makes us Milton Keynes City Council.