Community Housing Manager at Places for People Housing Association (2024-02 – Present)
Customer facing role in the community, working to support customers to manage and sustain their tenancies. Ensuring schemes are safe in compliance with health and safety requirements by way of regular inspection. Dealing with low level anti-social behaviour and tenancy management in the Northeast of England.
- Deliver services to customers to a high standard, ensuring communities are kept safe
- Represent the Association in a professional manner
- Liaison with internal and external customers and build solid working relationships with stakeholders
- Refer vulnerable customers for appropriate support in line with their needs
- Promote and act within the Association's policies and procedures
- Respond to customer enquiries and feedback within relevant SLA timescales
- Effectively manage and resolve low level anti-social behaviour cases
- Work as part of a team to deliver excellent customer service
- Work independently, responsible for managing own diary and appointments
- Attend relevant training in line with personal development opportunities
- Manage caseload via Salesforce administration system
- Requisitions and Purchase orders for procurement with internal and external contractors
- Regular travel within the North East and Yorkshire
- Carry out any additional duties as required
Lettings and Neighbourhood Officer at Castles and Coasts Housing Association (2020-11 – 2023-07)
Work with colleagues to deliver a customer focussed service, which ensures wellbeing, community, and security for our residents. Deliver IL services to a high standard, ensuring that activities are delivered on time, in budget and in line with CCHA's Customer Service Standards and relevant legislation and regulation.
- Effectively deliver services to internal and external customers, including pre-void inspections, pre and post tenancy visits and tenancy management/enforcement
- Effectively market and let the Association's IL properties to minimise void rent loss and achieve letting Key Performance Indicators, working collaboratively with colleagues, and making effective use of technology
- Maintain accurate and timely website information on vacant properties
- Build and strengthen relationships with Local Authorities and other Registered Providers to ensure there are appropriate advertising platforms in place to reach target audiences
- Develop and deliver marketing campaigns and initiatives to ensure empty properties are effectively let
- Select and sign up new residents through the effective administration of letting systems
- Carry out home visits to new and existing residents
- Liaise with the Development Team in relation to the handover of new IL properties
- Refer residents to the Income Team, as required, to support tenancy sustainment and maximise income for CCHA
- Effectively respond to internal and external customer enquiries, needs and requests
- Oversee the collection and use of customer profiling data and customer insight to achieve service improvements
- Effectively resolve anti-social behaviour cases
- Effectively liaise with Local Authorities and other agencies in relation to tenancy management issues
- Monitor the quality of estate services, carrying out regular inspections
- Promote effective customer engagement, in line with agreed strategies
- Respond to IL complaints, in line with the relevant procedures
- Provide specialist advice and support on areas relating to IL to colleagues throughout the Association
- Achieve individual lettings and performance targets
- Contribute to the overall performance and achievement of objectives for the IL Team
- Provide update reports on activities (e.g. resident satisfaction, court action, re-let times, anti-social behaviour etc.) which the post is responsible for
- Ensure the IL L&N function is delivered within the policies and procedures framework
- Contribute towards continuous service improvement, including the development of IL policies and procedures to ensure they remain fit for purpose
- Maintain specialist knowledge relating to the Association's lettings and housing management procedures and appropriate legislation, specifically in relation to sheltered and supported housing and compliance
- Represent CCHA effectively and in a professional manner
- Contribute to the effective management of budgets
- Promote and act in accordance with the Association's policies and procedures, including those relating to equality and diversity, customer care, safeguarding and health and safety
- Contribute positively to the marketing of the Association's values and objectives
- Comply with CCHA's Financial Standing Orders and Code of Conduct
- Comply with the requirements of regulators
- Carry out such other duties, as may reasonably be required, from time to time
Sheltered and Supported Officer at Two Castles Housing Association (2012-06 – 2020-11)
Responsible for 13 sheltered housing sites in Sunderland and Gateshead and supported housing schemes in Northeast area. Deliver an excellent standard of customer-led service. Line management of 16 members of scheme-based staff that assist in the day-to-day welfare and well-being of customers and to ensure the service we provide is of an excellent quality.
- Coaching and mentoring of staff and leading team meetings
- Respond to internal and external customer enquiries
- Raise any issues/concerns and provide feedback
- Ensure the key performance indicators under the service level agreements and contractual obligations are met and the schemes are fully compliant with health and safety
- Manage the lettings process, allocations, anti-social behaviour, empty property management and compliance and health and safety of the sites
- Actively encourage the participation of residents in how we serve them
- Maintain and build strong relationships with managers, colleagues and external stakeholders
- Responsible for the management of 250 tenanted properties to ensure the delivery of core housing services. This includes areas such as, allocations, anti-social behaviour, empty property management and estate inspections
- Provide standardised reports to senior managers to meet corporate and external reporting requirements
- Liaise with local Councillors
- Adhere to strict time frames to meet Key Performance Indicators (KPI's), for example, length of time to allocate a property once keys are received from the contractor
- Regularly act as a housing representative for the department at stakeholder/customer meetings
- Representative in court, providing evidence and seeking possession of properties, dealing with warrants and injunctions
- Monitoring budgets to ensure no overspend, providing decoration vouchers, travel expenses, customer involvement
- Maintain discretion and confidentiality in liaising with outside bodies i.e. Police, local authorities, social services and mediation services to ensure the welfare of our customers
- Work in partnership with Adult Social Services/Safeguarding teams to support people in need, making referrals as and when required and attending joint visits and meetings to put actions in place to encourage positive change so tenancies can be sustained
- Carry out consultation of varying types with customers on local policies and service charges and manage the estate to maintain standards
- Negotiate with customers, stakeholders and colleagues and deal with conflicting situations
Housing Officer at Two Castles Housing Association (2008-04 – 2023-07)
Youth Worker at D2 Youth Zone (2007-01 – 2008-12)
Community Development Worker and Needle Exchange Worker/Volunteer Co-ordinator at Lifeline (2007-01 – 2007-12)
Secretary, Admin Officer, Customer Services Officer, Admin Services Manager at Places for People (1989-01 – 2007-12)
