Housing Officer

Job Introduction

We’re the largest social housing landlord in Milton Keynes with more than 12,000 properties. We have a wide range of different types of homes, neighbourhoods and estates ranging from the brutalist architecture of the 1960s through to terraces built in the age of the Victorians.

Our tenants are as diverse as our property portfolio, coming from all walks of life with different needs, opinions and requirements that we take care to listen to and respect.

We're seeking a positive and enthusiastic person to join the neighbourhood team in the role of Housing Officer to deliver targeted tenancy management support. This will be achieved through building trust with your residents to enable engagement across a range of complex social dynamics to support residents to meet their needs, helping them manage their home and tenancy effectively and enforcing tenancy breaches.

Main Responsibility

• To be the dedicated Housing Officer for a housing patch, responsible for a range of tenancy and estate management functions.
• Responsible for a range of tenancy management functions including, but not limited to, estate/site inspections, tenancy audits, introductory tenancy visits and sign-ups of new tenants.
• Engage with residents to identify issues and working to address these with residents, colleagues, and partner agencies to reduce the risk of tenancy failure and prevent evictions. This will include understanding and working empathically with people through difficult and complex situations.
• Effectively manage incidents of nuisance and anti-social behaviour, working together with anti-social behaviour colleagues where necessary.
• Actively assessing risk and working with colleagues within adult services and safeguarding, using a multi-agency approach, to develop action plans to manage any identified risks.
• Proactively manage a varied workload, including addressing complex and difficult tenancy and social issues with residents, signposting and making referrals as appropriate.​

The Ideal Candidate

• Chartered Institute of Housing Professional Qualification Level 3 or equivalent demonstrable experience of complex and challenging tenancy/resident management.
• Demonstrating an empathic and robust approach to managing residents demands from a wide spectrum of people, with ability to adapt communication style to suit different situations.
• Able to demonstrate sound knowledge of secure tenancy management relating to Housing Act of 1985 and relevant knowledge of the Housing Act 1988, Housing Act 1996 and the Localism Act of 2011.
• Demonstrable experience of evaluating and managing risks as they develop in real time, employing professional curiosity and making complex decisions while working independently.
• Able to understand the political, social, and economic drivers and their impact on residents’ lives, demonstrating the use of this knowledge to mentor residents and communities in positive behaviours.
• For this role you are required to have a full UK driving licence and provide evidence of your vehicle insurance with business cover and use of a vehicle. If you are successful, you will be required to supply evidence of your licence prior to starting the role.

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.