What's involved with this role: Temporary Housing Resolutions Officer - Housing Needs Service Reference no: Brent 5258866 Pay Rate: £19.95 per hour PAYE Hours per week: 36 Monday – Friday, normal working hours Role Length: This opening assignment is for 2-3 months City: Wembley, London A full driving license and use of a car is required as the postholder will have to travel extensively inside/outside of the borough to visit properties. Candidates must be able to start immediately The purpose of the role is to provide housing options advice to households in temporary accommodation and promote effective move-on to other settled housing, including private rented sector, intermediate and social housing. The post-holder will also undertake suitability of accommodation reviews, fear of violence investigations and related enforcement activity; work with accommodation providers and other services to resolve complaints and tenancy support issues; and support the implementation of a programme of tenancy audits. Key Responsibilities: Visit households in temporary accommodation to provide them with advice and guidance on the full range of housing options available to them and manage their expectations, taking into account their needs and aspirations, their priority on the Housing Register and ability to sustain other options, including intermediate housing options and private rented accommodation. Work with the Social Housing Assessment and Lettings team to monitor biding activity across households in temporary accommodation and offer support to those households who require assistance, in order to help them make informed choices about their future housing. Signpost/refer households in temporary accommodation to other agencies as required, including employment and training providers, supported housing services, children’s services or adult care. Assist homeless households in temporary accommodation deal with the effects of the welfare reforms by provide advice and assistance on employment opportunities and benefit entitlement. Encourage and help homeless households in temporary accommodation to comply with their licence or tenancy conditions, but where there is a serious breach of duty (including harassment, anti-social behaviour and hate crime) and/or the Council has discharged its homelessness duty, ensure the accommodation is withdrawn and recovered as efficiently and quickly as possible. Determine the Council’s discharge of its legal obligations in cases where temporary accommodation is refused and to consider appeals, reviews and legal representations where appropriate to comply with statutory requirements. Investigate cases of domestic violence and fear of violence reported by households in temporary accommodation and take appropriate action to manage risks to personal safety. Promote effective use of the TA budget by regularly reviewing move on from emergency to settled temporary accommodation and investigating the reasons for long stays in high cost emergency accommodation. Support the development and implementation of temporary accommodation tenancy checks, investigate cases where there is concern that temporary accommodation has been abandoned, sub-let or misused and, where appropriate, take action to discharge the Council’s homelessness duty Identify cases of suspected fraud and misrepresentation and to take appropriate action in conjunction with the Resolutions Team Leader. Reply promptly to enquiries and complaints from TA clients and their advocates, including elected members, MPs and ombudsman cases in line with the Council’s procedure and attend court cases where required. Qualification details and any other experience/skills relevant to the job role to help support your application (and help us to help you) – please give full details within your CV document. Skills & Experience: Minimum of 12 months recent experience in a similar role, or context and ideally within a public sector organisation. Experience of giving advice and information to customers and working with vulnerable groups. Understanding of homelessness and housing issues in the borough. Knowledge of temporary accommodation provision and usage Strong and effective experience in provision of exceptional customer services. Experience of the Suitability Assessment in recommending potential pathways for homeless households residing in temporary accommodation. Experience of negotiation, advocacy, mediation. Knowledge: Knowledge of the Housing Act 1996, parts 6 and 7, as amended, the Homelessness Act 2002, Localism Act 2012, Homelessness Reduction Act 2017 and related legislation and case law. A good understanding and awareness of housing issues and homelessness issues. Good knowledge of landlord and tenant law, the possession grounds relating to rented properties and the eligibility criteria for means tested benefits. Skills & Abilities Ability to work under pressure, prioritise workload and meet tight deadlines. Ability to communicate information and present information in a clear and precise format both in writing and in person Manage competing work demands methodically to achieve targets and meet changing demands and priorities. Ability to deal with difficult customers and maintain positive working relationship Demonstrate commitment to and comfort with the Council’s equalities and diversity policy through all aspects of service delivery. ICT Skills: Strong IT skills including Microsoft packages or equivalent (e.g. G Suite). Please quote the Job Title & Vacancy Reference No. in your application, or we will be unable to match your CV to the role being applied for. Clients are generally looking for candidates who are local to, or who can commute easily to the place of work. It will help your application if your CV states, in broad terms, where you reside – there is no need for a full address. Please feel free to apply to us direct via jobstclrec.com by quoting the job reference and exact job title. To help speed up the process of uploading your CV to the client we would ask that you send us your CV in Word format (or equivalent) if possible, not as a PDF. If you are successful in securing this role, please note that for the entire duration of this contract, regardless of extension, you will be working at the PAYE rate that has been advertised. For absolute clarity, we only work on a PAYE basis, rather than umbrella pay terms. We do not offer Ltd/umbrella or outside IR35 rates. If you wish to understand PAYE vs Umbrella more, please let us know and we can send you some additional information for clarity. Due to the number of CVs being sent to us under current market conditions, unfortunately we cannot respond to all applications. If you have not heard from us within 3 working days, please assume that you have not been shortlisted on this occasion. We will, however, be very happy to receive future applications from you for other roles. S Please note that clients invariably ask us to strip out contact details from CVs before we submit them for consideration. This is always quicker and easier to do if you send your CV to us in Word format, rather than as a PDF please