Post number: / Division:Operational Housing Services
Grade:7 / Section/team:Housing Advice Team
Overall purpose of job:
To secure rough sleeper’s health, wellbeing and safety as far as is reasonably possible by attempting to get them to engage meaningfully to access appropriate services and thereby improve their life chances and enable them to access appropriate accommodation.
Post holders will be expected to be flexible in undertaking the duties and responsibilities attached to their post and may be asked to perform other duties, which reasonably correspond to the general character of the post and are commensurate with its level of responsibility.
Main responsibilities:
- Conduct regular outreach work in order to identify, make contact with rough sleepers and carry out effective engagement, especially those who are reluctant to access support and accommodation.
- Assist clients with finances, including benefit claims and debt issues, liaising with appropriate agencies as necessary. Assess their individual needs and secure appropriate services.
- Keep up to date with legislation and good practise in particular relating to housing and homelessness.
- Represent HAT at meetings around rough sleeping and homelessness, including complex cases, MAPPA, as well as organise the annual rough sleeper count, and homeless forums.
- Work closely with The Forge and other external agencies to respond promptly to all enquiries and reports concerning rough sleepers.
- Maintains files, records and statistical information in an accurate manner using both manual and computerised systems.
8. Assists in the development of initiatives around the governments ‘no second night out’ strategy and contribute to a locally agreed ‘severe weather protocol’ here in North Lincolnshire. Identify potential accommodation providers and housing pathways generally for this client group. Foster partnership working with other agencies that have an interest in this client group.
9. Identify potential accommodation providers and housing pathways generally for this client group.
10.Fosters partnership working with other agencies that have an interest in this client group.
11. Assists with the development and provision of front line housing advice and assistance to all clients from any housing tenure that requires housing advice / options to prevent homelessness.
Knowledge, skill and experience:
- Good knowledge of homeless legislation.
- Good knowledge of landlord / tenant legislation.
- Good knowledge of debt and welfare benefits.
- Excellent interpersonal skills requiring diplomacy, tact and sensitivity as often dealing with and in difficult circumstances / situations.
- Persuasion and negotiation skills.
- Excellent communication skills essential.
- Experience of care and support systems for homeless people, including key working, care planning, housing pathways and joint working.
- Experience of conducting client’s assessments and interviews.
- Experience of working with homeless people or rough sleepers.
- The ability to devise and implement new solutions to prevent homelessness on both immediate and longer term.
- Understanding of and commitment to confidentiality and professional boundaries.
- Good IT skills using word processing and excel spreadsheets
Creativity and innovation:
- The post holder will use their knowledge, experience and skills on a daily basis to investigate client’s unique circumstances to identify key issues and solve complex problems.
- This will involve identifying and acquiring relevant information, interpreting legislation and developing individual or innovative solutions, involving external partners or service providers in some instances.
- Not all the potential combinations of circumstances that may be encountered will be covered by policies and procedures.
Contacts and relationships:
- A major part of the function of the post will be contact with clients, external organisations, other employees of the council and elected members. Contact will include the provision of guidance and advice, interviewing, providing and receiving information, evaluating information and developing relationships. The duties of the post will involve some negotiation with landlords to accept these clients, other agencies to agree interventions, negotiations with team leader and managers over the provision of emergency accommodation.
- Homeless Persons–Daily– to engage with them, assess needs, find accommodation etc.
- Police – daily/weekly contact – to discuss rough sleepers/hard to house/shared contacts/agreed priorities and campaigns.
- Probation – daily/weekly contactto discussed shared client group/hard to house
- Street link – weekly – in response to enquiries from the public to street link
- Housing Advice Team – daily – shared client group – referral process
- CRI – Step Forward – daily – to discuss shared client group/current/past/future.
- Safer Communities – daily/weekly contact, including regular meetings/tasking/campaigns around rough sleepers/hard to house/anti-social behaviour.
- Housing benefit – regular contact related to individual shared clients/hard to house,
- The Forge – daily contact to engage with service users, including hard to house, rough sleepers/homeless – to complete individual need assessments,
- Private Landlords – daily/weekly – around tenants and prospective tenants, securing suitable accommodation, dealing with harassment, evictions etc
- Social landlords - daily/weekly – to locate and secure appropriate accommodation for rough sleepers, hard to house etc, including ensuring an adequate level of housing support to help maintain tenancies.
Decision making:
- Activity of the post is in the main focussed on giving informed advice, making recommendations and decisions and giving advice.Decisions and recommendations are around eligibility the provision of emergency accommodation, and agreed move on plans for this client group.
- Decision making will comply with legislation, policy and codes of guidance but this can still be subject to interpretation, dispute and challenge.
- Decisions and recommendations will also be made on provision of evidence which is always subject to interpretation.
Responsibility for resources:
- Blackberry
WORK ENVIRONMENT
Work demands:
- Work subject to deadlines, changing demands and conflicting priorities.
- On a daily basis, customer demand dictates how the service is delivered e.g. a high priority case leap frogging others.
- Deadlines set by legislation and government targets, continually demand attention, as the nature of the service is deadline led to a major extent.
- Demand for the service itself can never be classified at a continuous level due to the very nature of the business.
Physical demands:
- Some physical effort.
- Travelling would be involved, including on foot.
Working conditions:
40% outdoors with 60% office based. The main office base is Church Square but office work will be undertaken at other council buildings as well as other agencies, including The Forge.
Work context:
- Nature of the job could involve working in a fraught and tense environment with the continual potential for threats and aggression from clients.
- Lone working at times, but will follow established lone working policies and procedures
- Many clients may be under the influence of alcohol or other substances and therefore can often be unpredictable.
- In visiting areas where rough sleepers are known to be bedding down, to be aware of potential hazards, sharps etc.
Position in organisation:
Indicate how many staff the post is directly accountable for:
Are posts in more than one location? Yes No
Is this at the same site? Are the posts managed highly mobile?
Is the supervision/management shared with another post in the structure? Yes No
Please indicate which post(s) ______
The post is subject to:
Disclosure of convictions under the Rehabilitation of Offenders (Exemption) Act 1974 Yes□No□
Political restriction Yes □ No□
Employee:
(signed) / (print) / Date:
Manager: (signed) / (print) / Date:
Policy and Resources Cabinet Member – 19th September 2012, Implemented – 8th October 2012 Page 1 of 5