Temporary Accommodation and Hostel Officer

Full-Time, Fixed-Term and Secondment Contract - 12 months

About us at Hounslow

We'd love you to join us at the London Borough of Hounslow! Our people are deeply committed to providing excellent services to our residents, doing all we can to make lives as good as they can be.

We are an outstanding council, serving an outstanding borough. With brilliant, visionary leadership, a dynamic Cabinet and a can-do culture, we've built strong partnerships which have transformed how we serve one of London's most diverse boroughs. Hounslow is the world in one place and full of potential. We are stepping up for our residents like never before.

About our Commitment to Diversity and Inclusion

We live by five core values: Lead with Heart, Do New, Pass on the Power, Harness the Mix and Be a Rock. All our work has equality, diversity and inclusion at its very heart, best articulated in "Harness the Mix". It's about breaking down barriers between our parts and people and unlocking the problem-solving power of our amazing mix of minds. We serve a diverse community, we have a diverse workforce and we are committed to being an inclusive employer.

We work hard to create representation across our workforce and leadership community, we have thriving employee network groups and our learning and development programmes help us lead, model and breathe ways of working that eliminate inequality, inequity, injustice and bias.

As part of this and under our commitments as a Disability Confident Employer, we make reasonable adjustments to accommodate our candidates. There's space for you to tell us what you need within our application form.

About The Role

This is an exciting opportunity to join Homelessness, Independence and Preventative Services which adopts a preventative approach across the housing, health and social care agendas. You will be a frontline professional delivering a first class, modern and flexible service to some of the most vulnerable people in the Borough.

About The Team You'll Be Working In

This is an exciting and busy role that is at the centre of the Councils response to homelessness. The service is developing and progressing our agenda to reduce the use of temporary accommodation and achieve more upstream prevention outcomes.

1. If you want to work in the public sector and be part of a progressive team, this is a unique opportunity for you as we are interested in what you can bring to help us improve and develop our services for our customers.
2. This role is to fulfil the council's statutory homelessness assessment and decision-making function, with particular focus on those in emergency and temporary accommodation.
3. You will proactively prevent and resolve crisis across the housing, health and social care agendas, utilising support services, discretionary funds and assistance and ensuring that accommodation is affordable. You will complete detailed holistic assessments of housing and support needs, devise and progress personalised housing plans and you provide interventions, support and referrals to minimise the time spent in temporary accommodation.

About You

You have extensive knowledge and experience of the Housing Act 1996 (as amended) and the Homelessness Reduction Act 2017, working with vulnerable people, and experience of leading multi-disciplinary housing teams and work involving complex needs and diverse client groups and an expert knowledge of homelessness and associated legislation.

• You have experience of multi-disciplinary working involving complex and diverse client groups and an understanding of complex legislative frameworks including homelessness, social care, mental health, immigration and welfare benefits.
• You are a great communicator to engage effectively with a broad range of people to influence, negotiate and persuade and you quickly build trusting relationships with complex individuals to develop a comprehensive understanding of issues faced by vulnerable people.
• You act with integrity, take personal responsibility and handle stress effectively while maintaining high levels of motivation and enthusiasm to achieve successful corporate preventative outcomes, using proactive and creative solutions.
• You work independently, proactively and flexibly, being an expert problem solver demonstrating excellent analytical skills, to seek out and implement bespoke solutions to complex issues and make decisions confidently.
• You are a high performing individual who works collaboratively with others, adapting to meet a range of changing needs while achieving targets and service objectives and make the team the very best it can be.
• You can travel independently around the Borough to carry out home visits and meet other professionals in community settings.

If the points below resonate with you, we'd love you to put in an application:

• Are you passionate about customer services?
• Are you an experienced homelessness professional?
• Are you looking to working in a forward thinking and progressive housing department?

Qualifications:

• You have relevant work-based experience and engage in continuous professional development.
• You can travel independently around the Borough to carry out home visits and meet other professionals in community settings.

Essential for The Role:

Disclosure Barring Service - Standard (Unlimited)

Closing date: 10 March 2025.