Housing Officer, Social Work

Rushmoor Borough Council is looking for an experienced, highly professional and enthusiastic person to join our Housing Options team. You will work as part of a team of Housing Officers, interviewing and assessing those in housing need.

This role requires an individual to have a good working knowledge of housing advice, options and homelessness. You will manage your own caseload and work collaboratively with other partner agencies. You will work with members of the public to prevent them from losing their current home or to support them to secure a new one. The focus of the role is to prevent households from being homeless whilst working within the legal framework.

The successful candidate will have the ability to negotiate within different environments. You will be required to have difficult conversations and deliver on realistic expectations.

Previous experience working as a housing officer considering and assessing homeless applications in accordance with the Housing Act 1996 Part 7 as amended by the Homeless Reduction Act 2017 is essential and have an understanding of Renters Rights Act 2025. Additionally, knowledge of providing advice on all housing options, beyond homelessness, such as allocation of social housing.

You must be able to demonstrate that you have:

• actively worked with clients to prevent their homelessness by assisting them to retain their existing accommodation or secure alternative housing when all other housing options or solutions are exhausted.
• reached determinations and recommendations on homelessness cases, in accordance with the legislation and relevant case law.
• negotiated with landlords, parents and other agencies, both statutory and non-statutory to find the best solutions to clients housing needs.
• advised clients on their housing options regarding private rented, house shares, supported accommodation or access to other housing options.
• provided tenancy, rights of occupation, welfare and benefits advice to clients to ensure that they have the best possible opportunities to retain their current accommodation or sustain their new accommodation.
• developed robust action plans so customers have the best chance to improve their housing options. Including the wider support planning, linking with education, employment, health and other support providers and agencies.

Initially the work will be office based, the role will then move to a hybrid role with a mixture of office / home working. This is at the discretion of the manager.

The successful applicant will need to have a DBS check.

Council Office, Farnborough Road, Farnborough, Hampshire, GU14 7JU