Renters Rights Act Housing Officer

The ideal candidate should have a sound knowledge of housing or a related field from a minimum of one years direct experience in a customer focussed role working directly with members of the public who are homeless and threatened with homelessness as well any other customer requiring housing advice. Knowledge of the Renters Rights Act is not essential as it is a new piece of legislation. The ability to quickly learn, apply and become an expert in new legislation or processes is essential. The role will involve working with people to prevent their homelessness and support them through a housing pathway. The successful candidate should therefore have a good knowledge of accommodation options, welfare benefits, safeguarding and partnership working and be able to negotiate with landlords to prevent evictions and engage service users to address their housing. The candidate will also need knowledge of how to support tenants to defend against possession proceedings where there is a reasonable prospect of doing so and providing advice on if defence proceedings have a prospect of succeeding. This will include knowledge of court processes. The candidate must be committed to providing good customer service, with a passion for preventing homelessness and able to support the council in reducing costs of temporary accommodation.,

• This post requires a minimum of 5 GCSE including Maths and English (Bands 4 - 9 or equivalent) and A levels or equivalent.
• This post is subject to enhanced DBS clearance
• You will be required to provide a suitable vehicle for this post and to undertake the homeless out of hours function on a rota basis.
  
  Wyre Forest District Council are seeking an experienced housing professional to join it's Housing Advice Team to provide advice and assistance to households at risk of losing their private sector homes.
The Renter's Rights Act is one of the largest changes to security of tenure in recent history and fundamentally changes how local authorities will respond to households approaching homeless due to private sector evictions., Whatever your role within Wyre Forest District Council, every day you will be working to benefit people living in the area. The District is a mix of urban rural, market and riverside town communities covering 195 square kilometres. The three main towns of Kidderminster, Bewdley and Stourport-on-Severn and several surrounding villages including Arley, Rock, Chaddesley Corbett and Wolverley make up the district. Over 100,000 people live here and you can help shape our district's future as part of our circa 350 strong workforce that strives to make a difference in making sure the services we offer meet the aspirations and needs of our local community., To find out more about Wyre Forest District Council, or the area we serve please visit our website at www.wyreforestdc.gov.uk, 'Like' us on Facebook www.facebook.com/WyreForest/ or follow us on Twitter @WyreForestDC.

We value our employees and aim to create a positive, progressive and open work culture that supports everyone to thrive. We believe in rewarding employees and working for us has some great benefits. We focus on supporting your physical, financial and emotional wellbeing. You can expect to enjoy a range of learning and development opportunities designed to enhance you in your role. Our excellent benefits also include a competitive salary and pension scheme, favourable holiday entitlements and flexible working options. We are dedicated to enabling each individual to be the best that they can be, and are committed to equality, diversity and inclusion. We are a Disability Confident Employer and hold the Defence Employer Recognition Scheme Bronze award. If you have ambition for yourself and this district, thrive on challenges and getting results, share our values and strive to make others feel valued, then we want to hear from you., Our vision is underpinned by the following values which lie at the heart of everything we do:
• We are working together
• We are fair
• We are dependable
• We put communities first
Our Priorities: Our priorities represent what we want to achieve for the social, economic and environmental well-being of the district, they are:
• Economic growth and regeneration
• Securing financial sustainability for services the local communities value
• A clean, safe and green place to live, work and visit