Housing Officer, Social Work

Housing Officer

YMCA Essex has a 44‑room supported housing unit on Magdalen Street in Colchester. We house young people aged 16‑25, supporting them towards independent living and a well‑rounded life. We encourage and support them into work, education or training and to be able to maintain a tenancy and look after themselves when they leave YMCA. Residents can live at the YMCA for a two‑year period after which time we assist them in moving onto independent living.

The Housing Officer role is 37.5 hours a week, working shifts between 8 am and 8 pm Monday‑Friday, shared with two other staff members on an 8‑4, 10‑6 or 12‑8 rota pattern. The role is based in Colchester.

• Work with residents towards independent living by assisting them to claim and maintain benefits, move into work, education or volunteering, learn about successful budgeting, eat healthily and keep themselves safe and healthy both physically and mentally.
• Interview prospective residents, carry out room checks, fire checks, assist with our food distribution scheme, collect payments and arrears, attend appointments with the young people as and when necessary.
• Take an active role in resident engagement and support the management team.

• Experience working in supported or general needs housing, wellbeing planning, risk assessments, working with young people, and knowledge of welfare benefits, grants and other sources of income.
• Housing management, rent accounting and tenancy sustainment expertise, experience dealing with anti‑social behaviour and resident engagement.
• Current IT skills with Microsoft packages and Sharepoint.
• Excellent level of education, flexibility and adaptability in regard to working hours, ability to take part in an on‑call rota evening and weekend rota, and a driving licence or ability to reach Magdalen Street within 30 minutes at any time.
• Strong communication, empathetic and person‑centred approach, problem‑solving, able to work with minimal supervision, discretion, integrity and respect for confidentiality.

Send a CV to so
. Suitable applicants will be invited to complete an application form before shortlisting. Applicants will not be considered on CV alone; both CV and application are required.

Friday 9 January 2026. The job may be paused or closed prior to that if sufficient suitable applications are received. The position will pause on 25, 26 December 2025, then reopen on 27 December.