Housing Officer

**About The Role**:
You will join the team in a busy statutory frontline service which seeks to sympathetically yet robustly assist those households who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless. You will have the support of a number of different teams based within the service to help you deliver the best options for our customers.

The reason why someone becomes homeless is varied and as a Housing Officer you will be expected to deal and offer advice over a wide range of issues including but not limited to:

- assessing any duties owed under the Housing Act 1996
- tenants rights and occupation
- benefit eligibility and assisting to make claims where required
- rent or mortgage arrears
- managing debt
- assisting people who are at risk of violence or abuse
- obtaining accommodation in the private rented sector.

For those customers who are owed a duty under homeless legislation you will be assessing customers needs and devising Personal Housing Plans outlining the steps that both you and the customer will take to remedy the situation.

**Do you develop positive and professional relationships?**
We need people who can work in partnership with other agencies to assist and support our clients. The successful applicants will need to maintain and develop professional relationships with colleagues, landlords and a wide range of agencies.
**Are you customer focused with good communication skills?**
**Are you able to switch from one task to another?**
Housing Officers will deal with diverse cases from one moment to the next. You will need to develop an understanding not just of homelessness legislation but other statutory sources in order to fully advise our applicants.

**Further Information**:
This post requires significant travel. You must have a vehicle (or transport we deem suitable) available for use as needed.

**About Us**:
We’re passionate about making Dorset a great place to live, work and visit. Working for us should be no exception.

At Dorset Council we:

- provide more than 450 services to over 300,000 residents
- have ambitious aspirations
- are excited about our future
- care about Dorset and all the people who live here
- know that all roles make a difference and that our employees are key to our success You will:

- have access to a range of employee benefits
- be part of an organisation that supports each other to grow and succeed
- have access to range of training opportunities which will help with your personal development and career progression

We are proud to be a Disability Confident Employer. We offer an interview to everyone who declares a disability and meets the essential criteria for the role.

We also look for applicants who share our commitment to our behaviours. We will ask you to evidence when you have demonstrated them as part of the selection process.

This role is UK based and we will need to establish your Right to Work as part of the appointment process.

We use generic job descriptions and person specifications. This means the job title on any attachments may differ from the job title in the advert. We may provide specific information in a context statement if relevant.

Find out more about how to apply.