Housing Options Advisor

Our benefits

Here at North Northamptonshire Council, we’re transforming for the better, using all our creativity and imagination to create the best life for our local people.

You’ll find that we have a wide range of careers that may be more surprising than you think!

Why choose us?

We offer a vibrant working environment with:

• a competitive salary
• a pension scheme, where we pay a significant contribution on top of your contribution. It provides life cover and ill-health protection.
• lots of opportunities to develop your skills, knowledge and potential in a large unitary council
• generous leave entitlement (28 days, rising to 33 days) and bank holidays, plus the option to buy up to an extra 10 days
• hybrid and flexible working arrangements, where practicable for service needs to help you with a healthy work-life balance.

We provide a range of great benefits such as an Employee Assistance Programme, an Employee Benefits Scheme, wellbeing support, travel rates at HMRC rates, as well as supporting a range of active Employee Network Groups.

About the role

As demand for affordable housing continues to grow, driven by rising house prices and increasing private sector rents, more people are turning to North Northamptonshire Council for support. The introduction of the Homelessness Reduction Act in April 2018 has transformed the way we work, requiring us to engage with more households for longer periods of time to help them resolve their housing challenges sustainably.

At North Northamptonshire Council, we’ve made significant strides in how we deliver housing services, including the implementation of dedicated triage and casework teams. Our offer now includes a broader range of housing and support options than ever before, tailored to meet the diverse needs of our communities. If you're passionate about making a real difference and want to be part of a service that changes lives, this is your opportunity.

We currently have five vacancies available across the Housing Solutions Service.

The roles will require successful candidates to operate across the North Northamptonshire area.

What will you be doing?

You will work collaboratively with households who are homeless, or at risk of homelessness to remove any barriers to their rehousing with a focus on prevention. You will create, review and update their personalised housing plan and minimise any stay in temporary accommodation.

You will assess if applicants are homeless, eligible for assistance, in priority need, and have a local connection with North Northamptonshire. Where appropriate, you will also consider if they are intentionally homeless.

You will issue legally compliant letters, referencing relevant guidance and case-law, and detailing the reasons for your decision.

About you

You will have experience of working in housing within a local authority, housing association or equivalent experience within another organisation.

You will have a proven ability to provide excellent customer care working effectively with others, have good interpersonal skills and be able to adapt to an ever-changing working environment.

To succeed in the role, you must have excellent communication skills, be an accomplished negotiator and problem solver and be able to work by your own initiative.

Please see the attached job description and person specification for full details including the essential and desirable criteria for this role.

About us

Our Values and Behaviours

Our values define who we are and how we operate, by forming the foundation for how we interact with our customers, colleagues and provide our services. They are also at the forefront of our decision making and delivery and are:

Customer-focused
Respectful
Efficient
Supportive
Trustworthy

Our Key Commitments

Our key commitments help ensure that the priorities we make, now and in the future, maintain the necessary breadth of focus in those areas that we believe matter most.

We are proud to be a recognised Disability Confident Employer and is committed to providing an inclusive recruitment process and will offer an interview to disabled applicants who meet the essential criteria for the role.

North Northamptonshire Council re-signed the Armed Forces Covenant in June 2024 which highlights the Council’s pledge to support the Armed Forces community. The council obtained the silver status award for the Defence Employer Recognition Scheme (ERS) and we are now currently working towards achieving Gold status.

Further information can be found at Jobs and careers | North Northamptonshire Council (northnorthants.gov.uk)