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Liquid Recruitment Solutions
,
London, Greater London
Housing Needs Officer
Overview
Job Description
Experienced Housing Needs Officer - Immediate start - Long term contract with temp-perm possibility - NW London - £20-£25 per hour. MUST HAVE JIGSAW EXPERIENCE Our Client aspire to provide great services, at great value, that make a positive difference to people, homes and communities. They manage and maintain 15,000 council homes, including 3,900 leasehold properties. We have a wonderful opportunity to join Our Client as a Housing Needs Officer. The key purpose of the housing needs officer post is to provide a high standard of housing assessment and homeless prevention to customers requesting help for housing assistance and to meet the Council's statutory duties towards housing applicants under the Housing Act 1996 Parts VI and VII. The role will be required to make good quality decisions on homelessness and housing need in accordance with the law, policies and procedures operating within the department and reduce the number of households living in temporary accommodation and unsuitable housing in the borough. Main duties and responsibilities: * To prevent homelessness and resolve housing difficulties through comprehensive advice and assistance using a range of prevention tools such as discretionary housing payments, the homeless prevention fund and where prevention is unsuccessful, to provide comprehensive housing options advice. * To holistically assess a customer's circumstances by conducting interviews, undertaking visits to customers in their homes, conducting enquiries and collecting information to be able to verify their circumstances and their eligibility for housing in line with the council's Allocation Scheme, Housing Act 1996 Parts VI and VII and the Homelessness (Suitability of Accommodation) (England) Order 2012 and Homelessness Reduction Act 2017. * To make specific recommendations on suitability and affordability in accordance with the Council's Local Placements Policy so that any future accommodation that may be offered to a housing applicant meets their needs. * To take a casework approach to customer's enquiry keeping and maintaining detailed written reports of developments in each case according to established procedure, preparing and keeping under review PHPs. * To effectively manage a caseload ensuring that cases are prioritised and decisions are issued in a timely manner to not only reduce the risk of temporary accommodation admissions but also limit the time customers spend in temporary accommodation. * To make comprehensive and robust legal decisions under the Housing Act 1996 Parts VI and VII that will stand up to legal challenge. * To conduct first stage appeals from customers on the band that they have been placed into under the Housing Allocation Scheme. * To provide comprehensive housing advice on matters such as eligibility, homelessness, security of tenure, public and private sector tenancies, housing and welfare benefits, income maximisation, arrears, harassment, unlawful eviction, home ownership, relationship breakdown, domestic violence, and other necessary areas of advice with the aim of preventing homelessness and issuing good quality decisions * To be able to understand and analyse complex information and to effectively communicate at all levels either face to face, by telephone, in writing or electronically, for example, with senior managers, solicitors and customers whose first language may not be English. * To ensure that personal knowledge of relevant housing advice and associated issues and legislation is kept up to date through the research and attendance at training provided by the client. * To demonstrate a strong working knowledge of the following areas of law and guidance: Housing Act 1996, Homelessness Reduction Act 2017, Homelessness Act 2002, Homelessness Code of Guidance, Housing Act 1988, Protection from Eviction Act 1977, Children Act 1989, ss 17 and 20, Human rights Act 1998, Asylum and Immigration legislation plus Statutory instruments and regulations as they relate. * To follow safeguarding procedures and policies to ensure vulnerable children and adults with housing difficulties receive the right services at the right time including the attendance at case conferences when required. * To work closely with internal and external colleagues, including social services, our contractors, occupational therapists, education services, support workers, hospitals and other medical professionals. . * To detect and report any incidents of suspected fraud to the relevant senior officer and to liaise with other departments such as the Corporate Anti-Fraud Team (CAFT), Housing Benefit, internal Audit and Legal. * To be committed to providing constructive feed-back to and ideas to colleagues about the quality of the service, system and procedures being provided to customers in order to ensure the Service continually improves from the customer's perspective. * To participate in frontline rotas as required.