Rough Sleeping Co-ordinator

As the Council's Rough Sleeping Coordinator, you can make a powerful contribution to our Housing Options and Support Service. You will work alongside friendly, highly skilled and collaborative colleagues who share your commitment to improving services for vulnerable people who are homeless. The Rough Sleeping Team ensures support and accommodation pathways are person-centered, accessible and high-quality. You'll discover an environment in which people are ambitious and inspired to meet challenges by embracing new ways of working. At London Borough of Waltham Forest you'll get involved in making change happen through creative service improvements, You'll support managers to develop and manage new partnerships and relationships with key stakeholders and residents. You'll actively engage with and support commissioned and contracted service providers who deliver frontline support services, accommodation and person-led housing solutions. We'll look to you to help make sure our accommodation and support pathways address the needs of different groups, many of whom have complex and challenging needs, safely and effectively. Specifically, you'll help us deliver a focus through all our services to prevent homelessness and rough sleeping. A personalised approach to support for people who are rough sleeping experienced or who are homeless is at the heart of our mission. You'll work alongside colleagues, service providers and commissioners to develop this approach. You'll also collaborate with them to find solutions for delivering enhanced services and support a wide take-up of our accommodation offer. Crucially, you'll support our Housing Operations Managers to ensure our deliver model meets the diverse physical and mental health needs of people who are sleeping rough in the borough., This position is fundamental to the provision of housing advice and homelessness services to vulnerable single adults who may approach the council for housing assistance as a result of the Housing Act 1996 and Homelessness Reduction Act 2017. This is a specialist role that will be at the forefront of homelessness prevention. In this role you will work with those who are most excluded from main stream services. You will work with vulnerable customers who require extensive and complex interventions to help resolve their situation. You will work in close partnership with a range of statutory and non-statutory agencies and partners to provide a coordinated response to prevent and reduce rough sleeping and street based activity within Waltham Forest.

• Knowledge of all homelessness legislation as covered by the Housing Act 1996, Part Vll, Homelessness Reduction Act 2017, housing advice law (security of tenure, disrepair, rent arrears) the Protection from Eviction Act 1977, housing allocations as covered by Part Vl of the Housing Act 1996 as amended by the Homelessness Act 2002 and other relevant housing legislation.
• Detailed knowledge of welfare benefits, including social fund grants and payments, fuel rights, debt management and income maximisation
• Knowledge of adult and children social care
• Must have a thorough understanding of inner-city housing issues and how these contribute to rough sleeping
• Awareness of the issues and initiatives facing local authority housing
• Knowledge of services, benefits and support available to those experiencing housing difficulties and especially those who end up rough sleeping
Experience:
• Experience of providing housing related advice and support to rough sleepers
• Experience of managing a team
• Experience of working within a team
• Experience of working in a demanding front line inner-city customer service environment
• Experience of dealing effectively with confrontational and challenging situations
• Experience of working with homeless clients and those in housing need
• Experience of carrying out face-to-face interviews, investigations and negotiating with homeless clients
• Experience of effective record keeping, including electronically
• Experience of successfully working to performance targets and tight deadlines
• Experience of effective partnership working
• Experience of managing or leading a work-based project
• Experience of applying for and attracting different funding streams to improve service delivery
Skills:
• Interpersonal skills, active listening, advocacy and negotiation
• Communication skills, able to write detailed technical letters and reports, direct complex interviews, convey complex advice simply and understandably to differing audiences
• IT literate and able to use computer software effectively
• Demonstrates a positive attitude towards work and the provision of excellent customer service Self-motivated and able to work under pressure
• Demonstrates a flexible and innovative approach to problem solving
• Proactive and creative in the prevention of homelessness and resolving complex problems
This role is borough-based so access to a vehicle or the ability to use public transport is essential. The postholder should expect to be office based a minimum of 3 days per week., As a public authority, we must ensure that members of staff in public-facing roles are able to speak fluent English. This means that they must have a command of spoken English, with confidence and accuracy, sufficient for the effective performance of their role. This requirement does not refer to any particular English language qualifications, regional or international accents, dialects, speech impediments or the tone of conversations. It does not require staff to speak only in English.

Bursting with culture, energy, and opportunity, the London Borough of Waltham Forest is a fantastic and exciting place to work. We are a highly ambitious borough. Driven by culture and the innate creativity of our residents, we have developed new and innovative ways to build our communities. Our Council is relentlessly resident-focused, insight-led, digitally driven and commercially minded; a Council focused on meeting the needs of our existing and future residents. London Borough of Waltham Forest is one of the employers. This accreditation is a proof of our commitment to creating a healthy, fair and inclusive workplace. This includes fair pay and conditions, workplace well-being, skills and progression and diversity and recruitment., Waltham Forest is a diverse borough where diversity is valued and is integral to both, service delivery and employment of its staff. The Council is proud of its rich mix of communities and as the largest employer in the area, it works hard to respond to the changing needs of its population. We use our statutory duties on race, gender and disability equality and best practice in respect of age, faith and sexual orientation to ensure equality of opportunity in the workplace. The Council is committed to meeting its 4 equality objectives: - Promoting equality of opportunity - Opposing all forms of discrimination, intolerance and disadvantage - Ensuring our workforce reflects the diverse communities of Waltham Forest at all levels. - Providing fair, appropriate, accessible and excellent Services to all. Respecting Diversity is a core Council value.


• Satisfactory employment references and CIFAS identity checks;
• Satisfactory declaration of interest;
• This role is subject to safer recruitment practices as it involves work with vulnerable adults;
• Satisfactory DBS check