An exciting opportunity has arisen for a Housing Advice Officer to join our busy Housing Advice Team, on a 12-month fixed term contract, working 37 hours per week.

This post is to work on a specific project supporting Maidstone Council’s delivery of homelessness prevention services. The aim of the project is to target early intervention and support to individuals, or households, the Council has identified through predictive analytics as suffering financial exclusion and at risk of future homelessness.

Through this early intervention and support you will be proactively preventing homelessness, by assisting customers to sustain their current accommodation, where appropriate assist in securing more suitable and affordable accommodation.

You will have experience of working with customers facing financial exclusion including debt, budgeting issues, benefit reduction and/or customers who are at risk of homelessness, for example by maximising income and accessing funding available to support the customer.

You will need to demonstrate an ability to approach customers and encourage engagement with customers who may not see the correlation between their current situation and future homelessness. You will have the ability to work in collaboration with others to positively address issues faced by individuals.

The successful candidate will have a strong focus on the needs of the people that are seeking assistance, whilst being able to manage customers’ expectations, and the ability to work effectively in a fast-paced environment.

You should be a strong team player who embraces change and is able to work flexibility in order to meet the needs of the service and the people that we seeking to assist.
You must have a UK full and clean UK driving licence as you will be required to undertaken visits to customers within their home.

The Council considers this to be a customer focused role and the ability to converse at ease with customers adapting communication style to suit differing audiences and provide advice in accurate spoken English is fundamental to the role.
Maidstone Borough Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and vulnerable adults, and expects all employee and volunteers to share this commitment.

Working in Maidstone you’ll also be less than an hour from London by train and have all that Kent can offer at your fingertips. You’ll also have the opportunity to develop your skills and experience within an organisation that prides itself on supporting its staff.

For further information or to discuss this opportunity in more detail, please contact either Stuart Clifton, Housing Advice Manager, on 01622 602583

Closing Date: Wednesday 29th May 2019
Interview Date: Friday 7th June 2019

To apply for this position please visit www.maidstone.gov.uk/jobs and complete the online application form.
Council Benefits: career average pension scheme, professional fee payment, flexible working (including opportunities for home working and job share), employee benefits package and generous leave entitlement.