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About the Role

We are seeking experienced, resilient Housing Options & Assessment Officers to manage a varied caseload of residents who are homeless or at risk of homelessness. This frontline role involves assessing needs, making legally robust decisions, and identifying solutions to prevent homelessness, requiring confidence, sound judgement, and emotional resilience in a fast-paced environment.

Responsibilities

• Assess housing needs and determine statutory duties under the Homelessness Reduction Act 2018
• Conduct detailed interviews (face-to-face and telephone) with residents in housing need
• Produce clear, compliant statutory decision letters and Personal Housing Plans
• Take proactive action to prevent homelessness, including engaging with landlords and agents
• Promote a full range of housing options including private rented solutions
• Work collaboratively with colleagues and partners to progress cases and remove barriers
• Maintain accurate records, manage data, and contribute to service performance

Requirements

• Minimum 2 years’ experience of having worked in a fast paced, resident focused environment to manage a varied caseload of applicants
• Minimum 2 years’ experience in a busy Housing Options / Prevention & Assessment service
• Excellent knowledge and application of IT systems and software packages
• Ability to work with minimum supervision, using problem solving skills and initiative to provide a resident focused support service
• Excellent levels of literacy and numeracy
• Ability to work flexibly, balancing competing priorities and meeting deadlines whilst understanding the needs, timescales and deadlines of others
• Ability to deal diplomatically and confidentially with a wider range of stakeholders internally and externally
• Strong working knowledge of homelessness legislation and processes
• Confidence managing a complex caseload independently
• The ability to make sound decisions in challenging, time pressured situations
• Excellent communication skills, including handling difficult conversations with empathy and clarity
• Strong organisational skills and attention to detail
• Resilient; able to handle pressure without losing focus
• Proactive; looking for solutions, not just processes
• Committed; wanting to make a genuine difference
• Must already hold a form of UK work authorisation that does not require sponsorship

Skills

• Knowledge of frontline housing services (Desirable)
• Problem solving skills
• Literacy and numeracy
• Diplomacy
• Confidentiality
• Communication skills
• Organisational skills
• Attention to detail

Location

• London

Work Type

• Full-time
• Permanent
• Onsite

Experience Level

• Minimum 2 years experience

Salary/Compensations

• Scale 6-PO1 £35,520 to £43,680
• £2K per annum retention bonus

Benefits

• Supportive team environment with opportunities to learn and develop
• A council that is committed to fairness, inclusion, and staff wellbeing

About the Company

• Bursting with culture, energy, and opportunity, the London Borough of Waltham Forest is a fantastic and exciting place to work.
• We are a highly ambitious borough. Driven by culture and the innate creativity of our residents, we have developed new and innovative ways to build our communities.
• Our Council is relentlessly resident-focused, insight-led, digitally driven and commercially minded; a Council focused on meeting the needs of our existing and future residents.
• London Borough of Waltham Forest is one of the Mayor of London’s Good Work Standard employers.
• This accreditation is a proof of our commitment to creating a healthy, fair and inclusive workplace. This includes fair pay and conditions, workplace well-being, skills and progression and diversity and recruitment.
• Waltham Forest is proud of its diversity, and we want our workforce to reflect the communities we serve.

Equal Opportunity

• Promoting equality of opportunity
• Challenging discrimination
• Creating an inclusive and supportive workplace
• We use our statutory duties on race, gender and disability equality and best practice in respect of age, faith and sexual orientation to ensure equality of opportunity in the workplace.
• The Council is committed to meeting its 4 equality objectives: - Promoting equality of opportunity - Opposing all forms of discrimination, intolerance and disadvantage - Ensuring our workforce reflects the diverse communities of Waltham Forest at all levels. - Providing fair, appropriate, accessible and excellent Services to all.
• Respecting Diversity is a core Council value.
• To support the above and reduce the risk of bias in its recruitment activities, the council is operating an anonymous shortlisting process, which hides personal information that can identify individuals until their application has been considered for shortlisting.
• The council also operates a scheme whereby, for jobs graded up to and including scale SO2, internal candidates are considered first.
• This includes those candidates who self-identify as having a disability for the purposes of the Disability Confident scheme.