Description
Emergency Housing Officer
Wembley | Hybrid
Three-month temporary contract with potential extension
£21.41 per hour PAYE / £28.19 per hour Umbrella
We are recruiting an experienced Emergency Housing Officer to support a busy local authority housing service. This is a fast-paced operational role responsible for arranging emergency accommodation, managing placements and rent accounts, and providing a professional service to households experiencing homelessness or an urgent housing crisis.
The successful candidate will need extensive hands-on experience with NEC, CRM and Locata. You must be confident creating properties and placements, setting up rent accounts, and opening and closing bookings. A strong working knowledge of housing legislation and tenancy documentation is also essential.
Working as part of the emergency housing team, you will arrange suitable hotel, hostel and other temporary accommodation placements. You will consider household circumstances, medical needs, vulnerabilities, affordability and any relevant location restrictions when making bookings.
Your responsibilities will include:
- Making emergency accommodation bookings and allocations within agreed timescales and budgets
- Completing same-day placements for urgent cases
- Creating properties, placements, tenancies and rent accounts on NEC
- Closing bookings and terminating tenancies and rent accounts when households move
- Preparing Section 188 and Section 193 licence agreements, Non-Secure Tenancies and other relevant documentation
- Maintaining accurate information across NEC, CRM and Locata
- Explaining accommodation charges, Housing Benefit and affordability issues to residents
- Monitoring rent accounts, arrears, suspended Housing Benefit claims and standing orders
- Verifying occupancy and supporting the effective use of emergency accommodation
- Liaising with landlords, managing agents and accommodation providers
- Investigating accommodation problems, disrepair and unacceptable behaviour
- Checking invoices and resolving payment discrepancies
- Responding to residents, advocates, councillors, solicitors and other professional contacts
- Maintaining accurate case records, reports and management information
- Supporting households with empathy and professionalism during difficult circumstances
You will need extensive experience using NEC within a housing environment, including creating placements and properties, setting up rent accounts, and opening and closing bookings. Experience using CRM and Locata is also essential.
You should have a strong understanding of homelessness and housing legislation, Housing Benefit regulations, welfare reform, affordability and tenancy-related documentation. Experience working with vulnerable customers and households facing a housing crisis is required.
You must be highly IT literate, with confident use of Microsoft Office applications, databases and electronic record systems. Excellent written and spoken English is essential, alongside the ability to analyse information, explain complex issues clearly and maintain accurate records.
This position will suit someone organised, resilient and comfortable managing competing priorities in a demanding frontline environment. You will need strong interpersonal, negotiation and customer service skills, with the patience and empathy to work effectively with vulnerable residents and manage difficult conversations.
The role is based in Wembley and offers a hybrid working arrangement. Specific office attendance requirements have not been supplied.
If you have the required housing systems experience and can provide an accurate, calm and customer-focused emergency housing service, we would be pleased to hear from you.