Introduction

Housing departments are responsible for managing and maintaining council housing stock. That includes a range of duties, from letting properties and collecting rents to working with communities to improve their environment and tackle local problems.

A housing assistant’s job is central to a council’s housing teams. The job content varies from council to council. It can be very much a hands-on role, dealing with the public ‘in the field’ for a large proportion of the time (in which case they may be known as a housing technical assistant, particularly where dealing with repairs requests). Or the job may focus largely on providing administrative support for the Housing team.

The size of team depends on the size of the council you’re employed by as well as on their emphasis on housing in their area but may include Neighbourhood Managers, Housing Officers and Clerical Support staff.

Work Environment

Depending on the individual council, you may be wholly based in a central or neighbourhood office. You may spend most of your time ‘in the field’, or you may divide your time between office and community.

Although you’d keep usual council hours – a 37 hour week, often including the opportunity to work flexible hours – there’s likely to be some work outside office hours if you’re involved in field work.

Daily Activities

You may be allocated particular projects – or the role may be more general. And if you were a management trainee, you’d be likely to work in a number of areas over time, so that you’d build up a broad knowledge and understanding of the work of a Housing department. In the office, your duties could include:

• compiling reports on tenants’ arrears and arranging appropriate courses of action including visiting, writing, phoning and/or interviewing tenants
• making recommendations to the Housing Officers on the serving of Notices of Seeking Possession/Notices to Quit, including preparing and serving notices
• assisting in the allocations function, carrying out pre-tenancy interviews, verifying applications etc.
• arranging for repairs to be carried out
• preparing cases for court
• giving basic advice and information to tenants or prospective tenants – over the phone or in person at the Housing office and liaison with external agencies such as money advice, Citizens Advice Bureau etc.
• monitoring and ordering supplies for the department, including stationery
• using computer systems – to prepare letters, reports and figures.

In the field, you could find yourself covering one or more of the following:

• working with homeless people and council tenants to work out what they’re entitled to in terms of housing and benefits
• inspecting housing for repairs and improvements
• checking that repairs or redecoration are carried out to standard
• collecting rents and debts and monitoring rent arrears
• assisting in the monitoring and enforcing of compliance with tenancy agreements
• liaising with community groups and representatives.

You would deal with a range of people, who may include colleagues in the Housing department e.g. Tenant Involvement Officers, Anti-Social Behaviour Officers. You’d also come into contact with people in other council departments e.g. Regeneration Team and elected Council members, as well as tenants and prospective tenants, the police, social services and utility companies (gas, electricity and water).

Skills & Interests

You need:

• good organisational skills – able to plan and prioritise your workload to meet defined targets
• a desire to help solve problems and to provide an efficient and helpful service
• to be able to work under pressure and as part of a team
• the flexibility to manage several different tasks at once
• good written communication skills and a good telephone manner for dealing with a wide range of people, including the public, colleagues, contractors and Council Members
• numeracy skills
• computer literacy and keyboard skills.

Entry Requirements

People enter housing at all levels, including straight from school preferably with GCSEs/S grades (Grade C/3 or above) in Maths and English, or after a degree course or following employment for several years in a post where numeracy and literacy skills have been proven.

Useful subjects (at GNVQ/GSVQ, A/AS/A2 level, degree, BTEC/SQA National or Higher National level or their equivalent) include business studies, economics, housing and administration.

Once employed, you can study for the professional qualifications of the Chartered Institute of Housing and/or NVQs/SVQs in Housing to Level 4.

Apprenticeships (part of the Skillseekers Initiative in Scotland) may be available in some local authorities.

Estimated salary range

Around £16,900-£18,600

Please note that salary information is a guide only and there may be local agreements in place. For further information about salaries for particular positions, please contact your local council directly.

Future prospects & opportunities

It’s often possible to gain promotion within the same department, with greater responsibility e.g. Neighbourhood Manager or a different emphasis e.g. Tenant Involvement or Housing Regeneration.

There are also opportunities to move to other authorities for promotion.

If you join a Housing department as a management trainee, you’re likely to begin as housing assistant and gain experience in a range of areas, with promotion over time to housing officer and housing manager.

Related Occupations

Follow this link to view a list of all related occuptions in Building Your Community.
Alternatively, follow this link to view all career profiles placed in the same job area.

Further Information & Services

Chartered Institute of Housing www.cih.org

Asset Skills www.assetskills.org

Apprenticeship information www.apprenticeships.org.uk

You may find further information about this area of work in your local Connexions service/careers office/school careers library – under BC.

What should I do next?

Look for current local government Housing Assistant vacancies in the following places:

• LGjobs.com - the official recruitment website for local government.
• Weekly, bi-weekly or monthly jobs bulletins produced by local councils themselves, available from libraries, community centres, town halls/main civic buildings and central council personnel departments.
• Local council websites.
• Local newspapers
• National newspapers – The Guardian is particularly well known for its public sector job advertisements on a Wednesday.

Find out about the council and get some work experience if possible by:

• Making the most of work experience placements arranged through your school, college or university.
• Contacting councils close to your home to find out about the work experience opportunities they offer.
• Talking to someone who does the job you are interested in – ring your local council to see if someone can spare some time.
• Making an appointment to see a careers adviser for more specific information about jobs and training.