Customer Housing Lead - 6 Month FTC Temp

To deliver a sustainable, supportive, and effective tenancy management service to a diverse range of residents in a defined geographical area of Octavia properties. You would be able to work jointly with colleagues in the Housing Management (tenancy management, lettings, income, resident services and reception team, estate services and improvements) and Asset Management Teams, across Octavia, and with relevant external agencies to ensure delivery of co-ordinated services which achieves a high level of resident satisfaction.

Whilst ensuring that vulnerable residents and those affected by welfare reform are effectively supported and able to sustain their tenancies.

Key Responsibilities

• Develops good knowledge of our residents, the communities in which they live and acts as an internal and external advocate of resident priorities to help deliver Octavia's vision of "Good Homes, Better Lives". This includes working closely with Estate Services and Improvement Officers and developing positive relationships with local stakeholders
• Leads on resident consultations and promotes resident involvement and engagement. This includes arranging and playing a lead role in resident meetings and organising community and fun day events
• Manages key aspects of the void and re-letting process, helping to minimise void periods and other associated costs whilst ensuing a resident focussed service. This will involve management of tenancy terminations, viewings, sign ups and follow up visits
• Manages and provides advice on a range of tenancy related issues including succession, mutual exchanges, assignments, transfers, enforcement of tenancy obligations and working closely with other teams in ensuring access for gas and emergency repairs and transfers. Where the specialist team has limited capacity, assists with the investigation and management of tenancy fraud cases
• Lead in responding to one-off low-level neighbour nuisance issues which can be resolved through a simple intervention. Only where specialist ASB investigation Officers are experiencing high demand to assist with investigation and management of low level ASB and Neighbour Nuisance cases
• Identifies and assists vulnerable tenants both directly and indirectly via liaison and/or referrals to Octavia's care and Support team and or external agencies, holding case review meetings and submitting grant applications to charitable organisations. This includes managing hoarding cases
• Works closely with the Income Team to prepare residents for welfare reform including financial capability risk assessments, basic household budgeting advice, initial guidance on accessing benefits and services on-line, and assisting in the recovery of low-level arrears via home visits and cold calling
• Manages expressions of dissatisfaction and complaints effectively by seeking to resolve at first point of contact, drafting first stage complaints, and identifying lessons learnt and required service improvements
• Works closely with Development Team on new developments, acting as both an internal client and resident advocate as well as supporting practical arrangements on the handover of schemes
• Undertakes a lead role on behalf of the team (for example leading on a policy area or provide practical briefing and guidance)
• Achieves defined resident measures and performance metrics in several areas, including Complaints, Voids, Getting to Know Your Visits, vulnerable customers, Welfare Reform and rent arrears, correspondence, post new tenancy visits

Requirements

For this position, we have listed the requirements we believe are essential for this role:

Experience

• Demonstrable experience of working in a customer service environment
• Demonstrable experience of working in housing
• Successful working with other agencies

Knowledge/ Skills

• Good understanding of social housing & neighbourhood management issues
• Understanding of best practice in & management of nuisance, harassment & anti-social behaviour
• Understanding of landlord and tenant relationships and responsibilities
• Knowledge of assessing individual needs in relation to vulnerability and referrals
• Good time management skills, ability to prioritise, work to deadlines & meet targets
• Ability to resolve, anticipate & prevent problems
• Ability to deal with tenants sensitively & with care

Benefits

The salary for this role is £150 per day.

Together, we continue to build an inclusive culture that encourages, supports and celebrates the diverse voices of our employees. Everyone is welcome.

Early application is encouraged as we will review applications throughout the advertising period and reserve the right to close the advert early.