Rate: £23.93 per hour
Term: 3 month+
Hours per week: 37
Location: Remote
What you'll work on
Provide advice, information and assistance to applicants who are homeless or at risk of homelessness. Help applicants to explore their housing options and find suitable accommodation that meets their needs. To work with a range of partners and agencies to prevent and reduce homelessness in the community.
What you'll achieve
Advice & Guidance
Offer advice and information on topics such as homelessness prevention, housing options, tenure rights and security of tenure. Communicate with applicants or their authorised representatives through phone, email or letter. Make advice accessible to all applicants and help them avoid or resolve homelessness and secure long-term housing solutions.
Progress Applications
Make enquiries and collect all relevant information from the applicant including financial statements or health information and carry out other verification checks as necessary, including authorised communication with statutory and voluntary agencies to support decision making.
Progress all homeless applications (Part 7 application) under current legislation, ensuring compliance to the Homelessness Code of Guidance.
Progress all housing applications (Part 6 applications) in line with the Homefinder Somerset Choice Based Lettings scheme and ensure these are completed in a timely manner.
Assessment & Plan
Carry out an assessment of circumstances and needs to identify what has caused the homelessness or threat of homelessness and the housing needs of the applicant and any support needs to be able to secure and retain accommodation. Following the assessment, create a personalised housing plan with the applicant to help them retain or find accommodation.
Decision Making
Decide on what duties are owed to the applicant (e.g., interim duty, prevention duty, relief duty), progressing all homeless applications, notifying applicants within target times whilst ensuring all decisions comply with current legislation. Make appropriate referrals to partner agencies and organisations to help with issues such as access to private rented accommodation, benefits, relationship breakdown, debt, budgeting, warrant, substance misuse, domestic abuse, rough sleeping, mental health, health, support, complex needs and learning difficulties.
Record Keeping
Be responsible for maintaining accurate and comprehensive records of all housing applications, assessments, decisions and outcomes. Use the case management system to record and update information in a timely and consistent manner. Ensure that all records are stored securely and comply with data protection and confidentiality policies.
Private Rented Sector Access
Assist applicants to access the private rented sector to prevent or relieve homelessness. Assess applicant’s financial situation and where appropriate, assist them with financial help to secure a tenancy via the Councils bond guarantee or rent deposit scheme.
Requirements
Who we're looking for
Qualification
- Education qualification to at least A level standard or acquired knowledge to NVQ level 4 and ongoing commitment to continuous professional development and where required will acquire specialist accreditation and skills. Essential
Knowledge
- Homelessness legislation. (Housing Act 1996, Homelessness Act 2002, Suitability Order 2012, Homelessness Reduction Act 2017) Desirable
- Landlord and tenant law. Desirable
- Options available to somebody that is homeless or at risk of homelessness. Desirable
- Data Protection. Desirable
- Equality and diversity issues and an understanding of the relevance to a housing advice service. Desirable
Skills
- Effective written and verbal communication Essential
- Ability to build and maintain good working relationships. Essential
- Negotiating skills Desirable
- Ability to deal inventively and sensitively with a wide range and spectrum of people in greatly varying circumstances. Essential
- Ability to establish and manage realistic applicant expectations. Essential
- Resourceful, solution focused, persuasive and skilled in overcoming barriers. Essential
- Ability to prioritise workload, manage time effectively and meet deadlines. Essential
- Ability to manage a diverse caseload effectively where detailed and complex investigations are required, working with precision and attention to detail. Essential
- Ability to maintain accurate detailed and timely case notes and other evidence-based records. Essential
- Ability to work as part of a team, be flexible, use initiative and work with limited supervision. Essential
- Good organisational and administrative skills. Essential
Experience
- Experience of working within a Housing Options team Desirable
- Experience of working in a housing association, local authority housing department or similar organisation. Desirable
- Experience of dealing with the public and in particular vulnerable applicants Desirable
- Experience of effective partnership working which has led to positive solutions. Desirable
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Equal Opportunities
Business Smart Solutions are a Recruitment Agency - We hire talented and passionate people from a variety of backgrounds because we want our global worker base to represent the wide diversity of our clients. If you’re excited about a role but your past experience doesn’t align perfectly with every bullet point listed in the job description, we still encourage you to apply. If you're passionate about working for a role in local government and share our company values, we encourage you to apply.
BSS is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. We do not discriminate in hiring or any employment decision based on race, color, religion, national origin, age, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), marital status, ancestry, physical or mental disability, genetic information, veteran status, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, or other applicable legally protected characteristic. BSS considers qualified applicants with criminal histories, consistent with applicable UK law. If you need assistance or an accommodation made due to a disability, please let your recruiter know.
Benefits
What we offer
We believe employee benefits should go beyond just a free drink or fruit bowl. What’s more, we believe you should get to choose perks that suit your lifestyle. That’s why we’ve partnered up with the global benefits and rewards provider Perkbox, to offer something for all of our people.
Here’s what you can look forward to:
Perks Hub
* Hundreds of global and local perks, available online 24/7
* Free monthly lifestyle perks; such as free coffees, breakfasts, cinema tickets, etc
* Shopping discounts from the biggest brands, all year round
* Save money on everything from the supermarket shop to summer holidays
Wellness Hub
* Easy to follow videos for everything from yoga exercises, to strength training and HIIT workouts
* Mindfulness, meditation and sleep resources, available on all your devices
* Guides to help with everything from anxiety to stopping smoking
* Confidential mental health helpline, 24/7 access to a qualified counsellor
Celebration hub
* Working with us means you're always part of Team BSS - celebrate and recognise fellow contractors, whether they're across the desk or across the world
* Company polls where everybody can vote for the winners
Culture Hub
* A single place to find company updates, photos, benefits information and lots more!
* Stay in the loop with what’s happening by accessing Culture hub anywhere, at any time
Job Type: Temporary contract
Contract length: 4 months
Salary: £23.93 per hour
Benefits:
- Company events
- Company pension
- Employee discount
- Gym membership
- Store discount
- Work from home
Schedule:
- Monday to Friday
Application question(s):
- Are you familiar with homelessness legislation (Housing Act 1996, Homelessness Act 2002, Suitability Order 2012, Homelessness Reduction Act 2017) and do you have knowledge on options available for someone that is homeless or at risk of homelessness?
- Can you provide examples demonstrating your ability to manage a diverse caseload effectively, establish and manage realistic applicant expectations, and maintain accurate detailed and timely case notes and other evidence-based records?
Experience:
- Housing Options: 3 years (required)
Work Location: Remote
Reference ID: RQ912715 & RQ952684
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