What's involved with this role: Job Title: Neighbourhood Housing Officer Ref: Portsmouth 5278000 Pay rate: £13.07 per hour PAYE Role length: Anticipated 3 months Additional requirements: Driving Licence and access to a car DBS requirement: Basic DBS Working arrangements: You may be required to work outside normal office hours from time to time The role: We are seeking a Neighbourhood Housing Officer to join a generic team responsible for providing a comprehensive, customer focused neighbourhood management service, delivering a full range of housing management activities to a patch of approximately 350 properties. This is a varied and challenging role with many competing priorities but it's not without any reward. You will achieve great satisfaction knowing that your efforts can make a real difference to the lives of the customers. In order to carry out this role, you will be a highly motivated individual with a passion for social housing who can demonstrate a commitment to excellent customer service coupled with a positive attitude when faced with challenging situations. You should be calm, capable and good with people, ready to listen to their issues and determined to resolve any problems. Strong communication and interpersonal skills are essential as you will need to be confident working with other agencies to deliver positive outcomes for customers. Key responsibilities: Provide advice and support when needed to enable people to solve problems and cope to stay in their homes Engage with customers to understand their circumstances and identify the barriers that prevent them from meeting their responsibilities as a tenant. This will involve working with relevant internal and external departments as well as partner agencies to help customers engage with appropriate support so that they can sustain their tenancies Respond to a range of rental income and debts, tenancy issues and void property demands. You will do this by fully understanding customer’s circumstances, including their financial circumstances, via face-to-face interviews, home visits and telephone communication Work with customers to maximise rental income, effectively respond to reported anti-social behaviour and take appropriate action for breaches of tenancy conditions. This will include attendance at court when required Carry out void property inspections, managing the process from a tenant giving notice to re-letting the accommodation in a timely manner Undertake home visits and occasionally work outside normal office hours. During these times you may attend residents’ meetings or seek contact with customers who have not responded to you during office hours What the client is looking for: Proven track record of delivering high-quality customer service in challenging, front-line environments Skilled in handling complex, high-pressure situations with difficult customers Strong communication and coaching skills, able to build rapport and motivate tenants to uphold tenancy responsibilities Empathetic and people-focused; excels at supporting customers in crisis with clear, compassionate communication Excellent literacy and numeracy skills; capable of drafting formal letters and professional documentation for legal or casework use Solid understanding of housing law, rent collection, and anti-social behaviour interventions Awareness of welfare benefits system and debt management provisions Passionate and proactive in helping customers achieve positive outcomes, offering innovative problem-solving Confident and assertive; skilled at asking the right questions, managing expectations, and setting boundaries Proficient in Microsoft Office and general IT tools How to Apply: Quote the Job Title and Reference Number in your application. Submit your CV in Word format. Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis—early submission is recommended. We will also add your details to our mail out lists. Please note you may receive details of roles outside of your immediate vicinity, as many candidates are able to relocate temporarily for work. Please disregard any such emails that are not of interest and let us know if you would rather not receive such mailouts and/or if you wish us to delete your details and prefer to apply direct to our advertised roles. If you do not hear from us within three working days, unfortunately your application has not been shortlisted on this occasion. Thank you for your interest in working with us. Please quote the Job Title & Vacancy Reference No. in your application, or we will be unable to match your CV to the role being applied for. JE Please note that clients invariably ask us to strip out contact details from CVs before we submit them for consideration. This is always quicker and easier to do if you send your CV to us in Word format, rather than as a PDF please.