At a Glance
- Tasks: Lead a team to secure safe housing for residents in urgent need.
- Company: Join a caring council dedicated to supporting diverse communities.
- Benefits: Competitive salary, professional training, and career growth opportunities.
- Other info: Dynamic role with mentoring support in a high-pressure environment.
- Why this job: Make a real difference by helping vulnerable households find stability.
- Qualifications: Experience in housing or customer service with strong interpersonal skills.
The predicted salary is between 40000 - 50000 £ per year.
Secure safe housing and lead frontline support for residents in urgent need. Facing housing crises or homelessness is a critical moment for our residents. We’re all in to provide stable temporary accommodation, ensuring our frontline service is compliant, clear, and compassionate.
Working Style
We have one permanent and one 2 year fixed‑term position available, both operating on a hybrid arrangement with a minimum of three days a week based in the office to effectively support your team and residents.
What You’ll Be Doing
You will lead a frontline team of six accommodation solutions officers, ensuring they deliver an efficient, compliant, and supportive service to residents requiring temporary housing. Your day‑to‑day work involves managing urgent placements for households in crisis, including those experiencing homelessness or fleeing domestic abuse.
You will oversee suitability assessments, ensure sign‑ups follow robust procedures, and manage complex cases that require legal precision and multi-disciplinary coordination with social services, police, and health professionals. Monitoring performance through regular one‑to‑ones and appraisals is a key part of your leadership, helping your team meet targets and manage workloads effectively. Additionally, you will monitor the service budget and implement strategic solutions to safely reduce temporary accommodation numbers and associated costs.
Working collaboratively with housing management and providers, you will maximise available properties while handling member enquiries and formal complaints with transparency and care.
What You’ll Bring
You bring a solid foundation in housing and homelessness, with a clear understanding of relevant legislation and tenancy procedures. Experience in a frontline housing or customer service role is essential, as you will regularly navigate challenging environments and guide residents through complex, stressful situations.
Your exceptional interpersonal and soft skills enable you to conduct difficult conversations with empathy, transparency, and authority, particularly when supporting vulnerable people. You are a resilient leader who thrives under pressure, capable of managing tight deadlines, strict key performance indicators, and financial challenges without losing focus on service quality. You also bring strong analytical skills to manage budgets and resolve operational issues systematically.
Above all, you possess a deep commitment to equality and hold values that align with putting communities first, demonstrating honesty, integrity, and a collaborative approach to teamwork.
Why join us
At RBKC, we’re all in – investing in our people, our communities and our future. We offer a competitive salary alongside extensive opportunities for professional training and career growth, making this role an excellent stepping stone toward senior service management. You will lead a highly accountable, knowledgeable, and supportive team that takes pride in its work, having recently successfully reduced overall service complaints.
This position provides a real opportunity to develop your management skills within a structured environment where your leadership directly shapes the workplace culture. By joining us, you will receive regular mentoring and supervision to help you navigate financial and operational pressures, ensuring you feel supported as you help your team succeed.
About Us
Kensington and Chelsea is home to diverse communities, thriving businesses and unique local places. Everything we do is focused on supporting our residents, strengthening our approach and creating a fairer borough. As a competent and caring Council, we take pride in our work every day, ensuring our services are delivered with care and competence. We listen to our residents, act with integrity and work together to build a borough that is greener, safer and fairer for all.
In the temporary accommodation service, getting stuck in is exactly how we meet the demands of a high‑pressure environment. Whether you are supporting your team in the office, coordinating with partners in the field, or working from home to manage budgets, your commitment ensures we provide vital stability to residents in crisis. It is not always smooth sailing, especially when balancing tight targets and financial challenges, but every ounce of effort pays off when a vulnerable household is safely housed. By fully committing to robust processes and fair assessments, you turn daily operational challenges into opportunities for professional growth and meaningful service development.
Interview Details
Interviews will be held face‑to‑face week commencing 24 th August 2026 at Kensington Town Hall. This role requires a standard DBS.
Ready to join us? We’re all in – are you? If you share our values and have the skills to contribute, we’d love to hear from you. Please apply online explaining how you meet the requirements set out in the person specification and job description.
We reserve the right to extend or close this vacancy early without warning subject to the volume of suitable applicants.
Equity statement / Employer commitments
We are committed to promoting equality and respecting diversity and welcome applications from all sectors of the community. We are a Disability Confident Employer – committed to ensuring that our recruitment and selection process is inclusive and accessible. We are committed to fair, transparent, and consistent pay practices. New hires will start at the minimum of the advertised salary range. Employees receive annual salary increases until they reach the top of the pay scale. In addition, employees will receive any agreed cost of living pay rises.
Housing Solutions Lead – Frontline & Temporary Housing in London employer: ROYAL BOROUGH OF KENSINGTON AND CHELSEA
The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea is an exceptional employer, offering a dynamic work environment where community engagement and consumer protection are at the forefront. Employees benefit from a supportive culture that prioritises professional development and collaboration, ensuring that you can grow your skills while making a meaningful impact in safeguarding consumers and promoting fair trade within the borough.
Contact Details:
ROYAL BOROUGH OF KENSINGTON AND CHELSEA Recruitment Team
StudySmarter Expert Advice🤫
We think this is how you could land Housing Solutions Lead – Frontline & Temporary Housing in London
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We think you need these skills to ace Housing Solutions Lead – Frontline & Temporary Housing in London
Some tips for your application 🫡
Show Your Passion for Social Work:In your cover letter, let us see your passion for social work shine through! Talk about the experiences that made you want to pursue this career—whether it’s volunteering, personal experiences, or academic projects. We want to know why this field matters to you.
Emphasise Relevant Qualifications:Make sure your CV highlights any relevant qualifications, like degrees in social work or certifications like a DBS check. If you've done any workshops or training, don’t forget to include those as well. We're keen to see your commitment to your professional development!
Detail Your Experience with Clients:Since this is a hands-on field, detailing any direct experience you have with clients is crucial. Whether it's internships, volunteer roles, or previous jobs, highlight those experiences in your CV to show us you've got the practical skills necessary for the job!
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How to prepare for a job interview at ROYAL BOROUGH OF KENSINGTON AND CHELSEA
✨Understanding the Role of Empathy
In social work, understanding and demonstrating empathy is key. Be prepared to share personal experiences or scenarios where you effectively showed compassion and support. This helps show that you genuinely care about the well-being of others, which is crucial in social work.
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Familiarise yourself with the frameworks and models used in social work, such as the Strengths-Based Approach or the Ecological Perspective. Be ready to discuss how these frameworks apply to your work, especially if you can tie them into real-world examples or case studies you've encountered.
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