What's involved with this role: Interim Navigator (Refugees) - Housing Reference no: Brent 5257192 Pay Rate: £20.92 per hour PAYE 36 Monday – Friday, normal working hours This opening assignment is for 3 months City: WEMBLEY, LONDON Provide a specialist service to refugees seeking housing assistance. Work in collaboration with a range of partner organisations and will lead on support and resettlement for refugees in the UK, such as benefit support, employment and training support and providing specialist advice. The postholder will be involved in assessing single homeless refugees' circumstances and providing specialist advice. The postholder will assist these clients with finding suitable and affordable accommodation under the guidance provided by the legislation and Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities. Key Responsibilities : Responsible for maintaining strategic relationships with other Council services, as well as external partners. To empower refugees and to support them with finding a solution to their housing crisis. Engage individuals in the borough experiencing a housing crisis and managing their expectations in relation to the private rented property market in order to make the decision for themselves. The postholder will link those individuals with, and advocate for the right assistance in existing services to address their holistic needs. Avoid a placement in Temporary Accommodation by receiving timely assistance in relation to their housing crisis. The Navigator (refugees) Officer will deliver intensive, specialist support to homeless individuals who have recently arrived in the UK or are leaving Home Office accommodation such as Bridging Hotels. Managing a caseload of people who are currently experiencing a housing crisis, and providing a service that seeks to minimise the duration of that crisis Understanding the complex, multiple needs as well as strengths of those individuals; and develop trusting, non-dependent relationships to improve their confidence and motivation to progress towards their next step in housing Empowering individuals to find their own solution to their housing crisis, drawing on the assistance provided by the Housing Needs Service Motivating and enabling individuals to create and progress through individual action plans to find and sustain new housing, taking account their personal circumstances Helping individuals to understand the rented housing market, keeping up-to-date with Local Housing Allowance, benefit changes, and opportunities Qualifications: Relevant degree/ qualification Knowledge: Comprehensive knowledge of all core legislation such as the Housing Act 1985, Housing Act 1996 as amended by Homelessness Act 2002, the Homelessness Reduction Act 2017, housing needs issues, related legislation and case law. Knowledge and understanding of the law relating to Immigration and supporting guidance. A good working knowledge of housing benefit and universal credit rules and of the supply and demand issues related to public sector and private housing in an inner London council. Comprehensive knowledge of prevention tools and options Some working knowledge of the supply and demand issues related to public sector and private housing in an inner London council Experience: Experience of giving advice and information to vulnerable customers and working in a busy front line customer focused environment. Experience of negotiation / advocacy / mediation Worked with households experiencing a housing crisis and the provision of advice and assistance covering a range of aspects of that crisis. Application of the Suitability Assessment in recommending potential pathways for applicants Skills & Abilities: Excellent interpersonal skills, with an ability to develop a rapport with and guide residents towards sustainable outcomes. Good IT skills to enable use of a range of Microsoft Office programmes Ability to balance respect and empathy for the client with the ability to impartially scrutinise evidence in casework. Ability to organise own workload and prioritise competing demands. Ability to deal with difficult customers and maintain positive working relations. Ability to achieve targets and methodically respond to changing demands and priorities. IT literate, including use of word processing, spreadsheets, databases and communication. 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. Qualification details and any other experience/skills relevant to the role to help support your application (and help us to help you) – please give full details within your CV document. 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 directly 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. ALD 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