Homelessness Prevention Officer

The Dover District is steeped in history, with the iconic White Cliffs of Dover, several castles including the Lord Warden of Cinque Ports residence, Walmer Castle. As well as the coastline, the District has wonderful countryside, lush valleys and beautiful parks and gardens.

Main Duties:
To assess the initial stages of an approach to the service for those that are homeless or at risk of homelessness. Assess and prioritise circumstances and needs quickly and effectively, carry out relevant enquiries to determine homelessness and eligibility, and ensure referrals are made to the appropriate team in a timely manner.

To work closely with local private landlords, letting agents and accommodation providers in the Dover District, to promote the DDC landlord incentive scheme. To effectively monitor payments made to accommodation providers and where necessary, support recovery of payments made to customers to prevent homelessness.

A key aspect of this role is to use negotiation and mediation skills, as well as appropriately challenging those that are homeless and their excluders, to prevent homelessness wherever possible using a proactive and innovative approach. You will also need to manage expectations of members of the public on the reality of the housing options available.

Essential Requirements:
The successful candidate will be able to demonstrate:

- Experience of working with members of the public.
- Good customer care and interpersonal skills.
- Excellent communication skills both verbal and written.
- Ability to use negotiation and influencing skills.
- Proficient in the use of IT systems including Microsoft Outlook, Word, Excel and internet-based systems.
- Ability to use negotiation and influencing skills.
- Ability to organise and prioritise own workload and use own initiative.
- Ability to work calmly and accurately under pressure and to tight deadlines.
- Ability to build excellent relationships and working partnerships both in the Council and externally with partner organisations.
- Ability to work in a team and develop effective and supportive relationships with colleagues.
- Knowledge of homelessness legislation, in particular the Homelessness Reduction Act 2017, would be desirable.
- A good knowledge of statutory and non-statutory services and welfare benefits would be desirable.
- A good understanding of the nature of the local housing issues affecting Dover district and its residents.
- Educated to GCSE level in English and Maths Grade C or above, Grades 4-9 or equivalent.

Due to the nature of this role the successful applicant will be required to undertake an Enhanced DBS check as well as a Baseline Personal Security Standard (BPSS) as part of their pre-employment clearances.

You will have the ability to work flexibly and have a current, full, clean UK driving licence and use of a motor vehicle for business use, or the ability to get to locations in a timely manner equivalent to motor travel in your own vehicle.

An opt-in local government pension scheme with the opportunity for staff to make advanced, voluntary contributions (AVCs) to top up their pension.
- A generous annual leave provision.
- A discount scheme including reduced membership rates at the local leisure centre.
- On-site parking.
- Cycle2Work Scheme.
- Generous Salary Sacrifice Car Scheme.