Housing Project Support Worker in Leeds

Are you passionate about supporting people to rebuild their lives and achieve greater independence? Abigail Housing is seeking a dedicated and motivated Housing Project Support Worker to join our team.

Location: Leeds and Bradford

Hours: 30 hours per week, working Tuesday to Friday

Salary: £27,917.55 per annum (pro rata). Actual salary for working 30 hours per week is £22,635.85 per annum.

As a Housing Project Support Worker, you will provide practical and person-centered support to individuals living in Abigail Housing accommodation. The successful applicant will be expected to work across our offices in Leeds and Bradford, as well as at the properties we manage throughout both cities. As the majority of our accommodation is located in Leeds, most of your time will be spent supporting our clients living at our Leeds properties. This is a rewarding opportunity to make a real difference in the lives of vulnerable individuals by helping them access services, develop independent living skills, maintain tenancies, and work towards positive move-on outcomes.

The worker will be able to claim travel costs for additional costs incurred on approved business away from their normal place of work. Please refer to AH’s Expenses Policy for current rates. Staff are on-call over weekends on a rota basis. The postholder will receive a fixed payment per day for being On Call, plus TOIL for time worked.

Responsible to: Abigail Board of Directors

Reports to: Operations Manager

Background to the post: Abigail Housing provides accommodation and support to people made homeless at the end of the asylum process, including refugees who have recently been granted leave to remain and Appeals Rights Exhausted (ARE) asylum seekers.

Primary objectives of the post: Once inducted into the role, you will work closely with colleagues and senior staff to provide housing management support to all residents living at Abigail Housing (AH), including assisting with maintaining and running the properties which the charity leases and owns. To also promote the work of the charity to ensure its continuation.

Key responsibilities and accountabilities:

• Property Management
• To oversee health and safety of all Abigail Housing properties in consultation with other colleagues and the Operations Manager.
• Ensuring the safety and welfare of residents, with particular regard to fire safety and keeping properties clean.
• To assist residents with intensive housing management, to aid them address all housing related needs during their stay at a property managed by AH.
• To maintain all properties and any other casework notes and records.
• To undertake house inspections at all Abigail housing properties and liaise with residents to arrange access.
• To take regular meter readings at all properties.
• To communicate with all stakeholders in an appropriate and timely manner, including utility companies, landlords, contractors etc and to keep clear and comprehensive records.
• Work closely with residents and colleagues to ensure that standards of cleanliness are upheld and maintained at all of AH’s properties and resolve issues.
• Report, record and follow up identified housing maintenance issues with contractors, where appropriate the landlord and escalate as needed to colleagues/Operations Manager.
• To ensure timely resolution of maintenance issues in line with policy.
• Arrange, monitor and ensure that any safety certification related to all our properties is completed and filed appropriately.
• Work alongside colleagues, residents and with the Operations Manager to plan and assess all properties to ensure all are adequately furnished and decorated, and appliances are working efficiently.
• Maintaining casework notes, property logs and inventories.
• Ensure the timely removal and replacement of equipment and appliances where required.
• To liaise with contractors and landlords regarding repairs and servicing at houses and arrange and provide access to properties.
• To carry out minor repairs, maintenance, redecoration and some cleaning.
• Responsibility for recording and managing the secure storage of property keys using the key safe(s) in the office(s) and cutting keys where required.
• To support team members and the Operations Manager with ensuring that all of AH properties are meeting current housing standards.
• To carry out all required fire testing and recording according to legislation, organisational policy and procedures.
• To support the organisation and facilitation of house meetings with residents, to support resident involvement and the empowerment and resolution of any issues which may arise.
• Keep records of all house meetings and communication with residents and share feedback and communications to and from colleagues and the organisation.
• To ensure rooms that have been vacated are clean and tidy and to prepare vacant rooms ready to accommodate a new resident.
• To allocate vacant rooms in line with agreed allocation policies, and in communication with the Operations Manager and colleagues from across the team, arranging initial meetings with prospective residents (ARE residents), conducting viewings (refugee residents), inducting and completing initial paperwork with all new residents.
• To support the timely collection of Housing Benefit payments, service charges and rent payments according to the status of the resident.
• To regularly check in and communicate with colleagues from across the team to ensure that any issues reported by residents to them or those that arise in house meetings are addressed.
• To liaise closely with colleagues and Operations Manager to identify any issues or behaviours that are in breach of licence/tenancy conditions and escalate/take appropriate action.
• Support residents to manage and resolve any issues that may cause tension as a result of communal living.
• To liaise and communicate with colleagues from across the staff team if they are made aware of any resident issues that arise that need to be addressed.
• To update and maintain property inventories.
• Respond appropriately to any other presenting needs of residents as required.
• To participate in Housing Management subgroup Meetings.
• Resident Support
• The main focus of this role is to provide Housing Management related support. However, as we are a small team flexibility will be required to assist with addressing resident related support issues, especially in cases of annual leave and sickness.
• To work closely with all colleagues, ensuring proactive and timely handover and information sharing, both during and outside of planned team meetings/catchups.
• Administration
• To take responsibility for all record keeping related to housing management, including but not exhaustive: Property case notes and housing/safety risk assessments.
• To take care of all office equipment and office space.
• To assist with recording statistical information on our systems for monitoring and reporting.
• To ensure invoices for repairs and purchases for equipment etc are filed appropriately.
• Development Work
• To assist with representing the charity at fundraising events, including managing stalls.
• From time to time, the postholder may be asked to attend multi-agency meetings including but not exhaustive; NACCOM quarterly hub meetings, NACCOM annual conference.
• Supervision, Accountability and Training
• To work for periods of time alone, taking care to follow lone working procedures and consult with colleagues from across the team where needed.
• To actively participate and engage in regular catch-up meetings with colleagues from across the team to ensure good lines of communication are encouraged and maintained.
• To participate in regular support and supervision and annual appraisal meetings with line manager.
• Undertake any other reasonable duties linked to the overall aims of the charity as directed by the post holder’s line manager.
• As indicated under ‘Resident Support’, point 1, the role requires the post-holder to be flexible in their approach as Abigail Housing operates with a small staff team. Therefore, the post-holder will be expected to undertake housing management duties from time to time, and particularly during times of planned and unplanned absences.
• This job description and the tasks within it are therefore not exhaustive.
• Decision making
• The post holder will be able to liaise with other AH staff but will spend some time each day working alone and be expected to use their own initiative. They will be expected to work within current AH policy and guidelines at all times.
• Assets, materials
• The post holder will be responsible for the safe keeping of all materials (including property keys/office keys), equipment in their possession and cash/credit card belonging to Abigail Housing. They will adhere to all AH policies and procedures and abide by the Employee code of Conduct and the principles of the Abigail Housing Behaviour Framework.
• Equal Opportunities Statement
• AH is actively opposed to all forms of discrimination on the grounds of age, gender, ethnic origin, nationality, political belief, religion, marital status, domestic circumstance, immigration status, sexual orientation, physical or mental ability, trade union activity, health education or formal education.