Introduction

There is a wide range of jobs concerned with local government housing and at different levels. Local authority housing departments provide housing and flats to rent. They also manage sheltered housing, hostels and other authority owned properties. Most of the posts come under property services and every type of authority except for county councils has them. But this particular job can be found in the environment services, too.

Housing management is not a straightforward issue and there are many different elements to the service – assessing local housing requirements and the needs of special groups, ensuring minimums standards of repair and maintenance, monitoring tenancy agreements and rent levels and so on.

Housing operations officers provide and manage the landlord service from neighbourhood housing offices.

This is a good career step from property services posts such as neighbourhood housing manager.

Work Environment

The work is almost entirely office based but there will be occasional local and regional travel to meetings and neighbourhood housing offices and well as various council housing estates.

There are some site visits to be made and the standard working week is 37 hours.

Daily Activities

Most of the time housing operations officers work on developing new policies and strategies to ensure that there is an efficient landlord service at each of the neighbourhood housing offices. They are always looking for improvements. This entails making sure that each office has adequate support to provide a proper service.

Officers will be involved in tackling special problems such as burglary, racial incidents and protection of the homeless. They will liaise with landlords and other agencies such as the police, neighbourhood watch and community groups to find ways of solving them. It will also bring them into contact with a great many other housing staff and individual customers.

The overall aim is to strengthen the hand of the individual landlord while, at the same time, protect the interests of the tenants – for the sake of the whole community.

Skills & Interests

To be good at this job you would need:

• practical ability
• attention to detail
• caring nature
• project management ability
• confidence
• to be able to get on with people from different backgrounds
• IT skills
• good oral and written communication skills
• to be a team worker and work on your own initiative
• to have a non-judgmental approach to vulnerable members of society.

Entry Requirements

Most entrants have a degree, A Levels or the equivalent although some will enter with four GCSE (grades A-C). Degrees in law, housing, business studies and estate management are particularly relevant.

Some authorities will accept mature applicants with substantial experience (preferably with a number of different organizations to learn about different housing needs) rather than qualifications. But it is expected that you should have membership of The Chartered Institute of Housing or be working towards it. NVQ/SNVQs in housing are available at Levels 2,3 and 4. Level 4 provides access to the institute’s professional diploma.

Estimated salary range

£16,900 – £18,600 possibly rising to £24,000+ in some areas.

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

There is a good career path available with the possibility of promotion to Head of Housing Management Service Unit and the top job is Programme Director. There are also many other senior management posts to aim for – in other parts of local government and outside – because management skills are transferable.

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

Inside Housing, journal

Chartered Institute of Housing www.cih.org

Asset Skills www.assetskills.org

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 Operations Officer 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.