Housing Officer

The Social Housing Sector has seen considerable change in the last 2 years with the addition of new and revised regulations including a new set of consumer standards. Portsmouth Homes is undertaking a programme of change to respond to the new environment and changes in expectations from our tenants and leaseholders.

The Housing Officer role can be complex and requires the ability to work with changing priorities and be flexible in approach. This role is responsible for the effective and efficient delivery of housing management services to a dedicated patch serving approximately 400 homes. This role provides generic housing management services including anti-social behaviour management, arrears management including debt and benefit advice, void management and lettings and general tenancy management ensuring income maximisation, efficient letting of homes and that tenants receive great customer service throughout their tenancy.

The Housing Officer (HO) role is a fully generic role delivering a comprehensive housing management service to a cohort of Portsmouth Homes tenants. The role is predominantly reactive, to help support and empower tenants to be able to sustain and maintain their tenancies and live their best lives, whilst feeling safe and secure in their homes and communities. Responsibility starts with the viewing of an empty property, with prospective tenants, and the need to ensure that the property meets their Housing Need and is suitable in terms of other factors. Support is provided at the beginning of a new tenancy, ensuring that the new tenants understand their legal obligations and expectations of them as a tenant and good neighbour.

The Housing Officer then supports the tenant and their household in managing and sustaining their tenancy throughout its life, dealing with tenancy enforcement, including Anti-Social Behaviour, Money and Debt Advice and Income Collection, changes to personal circumstances and household makeup, and termination of tenancy or dealing with deceased estates. The role is a generic cradle to grave tenancy management service.

A Housing Officer must be multi-disciplined, with a high degree of responsibility, expectation and complexity, and the need to be able to manage conflicting priorities and react positively in crisis and chaotic situations. The Housing Officer will work closely with the Local Housing Manager to track and manage demand into the patch contributing to performance data where appropriate and using all tools available to inform priorities for each working day and to plan time and work ahead, where possible. The Housing Officer is the main relationship manager with Portsmouth Homes Tenants and will act as the link between the tenant and other services as needed. The ability to keep pertinent and accurate records of all interactions with tenants on the tenancy record is essential ensuring that Portsmouth Homes maintains accurate data on its tenants and homes.



Skills:


• To have some Housing Management experience working for a social housing provider.
• To have a full driving license and access to a car
• Excellent literacy & numeracy skills (5 GCSEs including Maths and English or equivalent is desirable)
• A Housing or Management qualification is desirable
• Extensive and adaptable IT skills including the Microsoft 365 package (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Teams etc)
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills and the ability to absorb and interpret complex information
• Empathy and ability to build positive working relationships with tenants with complex
• needs
• To be passionate about and have proven experience of providing excellent customer
• service
• Excellent communication skills with the ability to adapt flexibly to a wide variety of audiences for a range of purposes
• Experience of dealing with and an understanding of GDPR and Data Protection issues and legislation as may be pertinent to the role
• Resilient with strong emotional intelligence
• Good understanding of safeguarding and the reporting process
• Experienced in managing and coordinating multiple priorities, demonstrating
• excellent decision-making skills
• A good understanding of the principles of effective tenancy management and the importance that good data management has to regulatory compliance and ongoing
• service improvement
• Evidence of commitment to own continuing personal and professional development
• Influencing skills (engage at all levels of the organisation and work with others to agree support needed for tenants to sustain their tenancy and to be able to build trust with tenants to assist in building a working relationship that supports them to sustain their tenancy plus to give evidence at court to support the councils case)
• The ability to build effective working relationships with colleagues, managers and partner agencies.
• To give advice and guidance when needed and explain complex issues to tenants.
• To keep good quality records and notes that can be used to inform case actions, complaint handling and court or ombudsman records.
• To be enterprising, resourceful and adaptable, using your own initiative.
• Confidently deal with unexpected or unanticipated problems, reprioritising work as required and escalating where appropriate.
• Ability to exercise sound judgment in complex and pressurised situations