Lead Professional Officer

Tower Hamlets Housing Option Service are looking to recruit Lead Professional Officers, previously known as Housing Options Officers. Tower Hamlets is a diverse borough that has a high demand for housing and a limited supply. As a Lead Professional Officer you will work on the frontline to offer support and advice to people who are potentially homeless. You will help in preventing homelessness and look to offer viable options and solutions; these will include but are not limited to, planned ways of leaving home for singles and families, mediation support, private rented sector accommodation, measures to help support victims of domestic abuse. You will also provide emergency accommodation where necessary and help relieve homelessness.

You will need to be able to work well under pressure and use your own initiative – you will be expected to participate in a busy duty rota and deal with members of the public. An empathetic and an active listener will be key in building trust with clients and managing expectations when interviewing homeless singles and families. Being an effective communicator and strong partnership working will also be essential to this role as will effectively signposting to relevant agencies and organisations for support. The role will involve you managing a caseload and applications; you will need to be able to write legally binding letters to a high standard, complete personalised housing plans and agree steps and carry out reviews with customers. You will need to also be proficient in the use of IT.

To be considered for this role, ideally, we would want you to have experience of working with vulnerable people and working knowledge of the Homelessness Reduction Act 2017. However, what’s more important is how you demonstrate your transferable skills for this role. Your passion and reasons for why you want to work within homelessness services as well as a can do attitude will be of utmost importance too; because we believe that having the right calibre of people in post to conduct these roles is essential in providing vulnerable homeless people with the services they require.

In return for the above, we can offer ongoing relevant training, support and continuous mentoring for the right candidates to help support you along in your career within Homelessness Services.