Housing Triage Officer

About the Role

We are seeking a proactive and customer-focused Housing Triage Officer to join our Housing Services team. In this role, you will be the first point of contact for customers approaching the service with housing and homelessness concerns, ensuring that individuals receive timely advice, support, and appropriate referrals.

You will be responsible for assessing housing needs, triaging homelessness approaches, providing housing options advice, and working closely with specialist housing and homelessness teams to achieve positive outcomes for customers.

This is an excellent opportunity for an individual with experience in housing, homelessness prevention, or customer services who is passionate about supporting vulnerable residents and making a positive impact within the community.

Key Responsibilities

What you'll do on a typical day:

• Act as the first point of contact for customers seeking housing assistance, either by telephone, email, online enquiries, or in person.
• Conduct initial assessments and triage homelessness approaches in line with relevant housing legislation and council policies.
• Provide advice and guidance on housing options, homelessness prevention, temporary accommodation, and support services.
• Gather and verify information to determine priority cases and appropriate next steps.
• Refer customers to specialist housing, homelessness prevention, tenancy sustainment, and support services where appropriate.
• Maintain accurate and up-to-date case records using housing management systems.
• Liaise effectively with internal departments, partner agencies, landlords, and support organisations.
• Support the prevention and relief of homelessness through early intervention and effective case management.
• Ensure all enquiries are managed in accordance with legislation, GDPR requirements, and departmental procedures.
• Contribute to service improvements and work collaboratively across housing and wider council services.

What You'll Need to Succeed

• Experience working within a housing, homelessness, customer service, or local authority environment.
• Knowledge of housing legislation, homelessness legislation, and welfare benefits would be advantageous.
• Strong communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to engage professionally and empathetically with customers.
• Excellent assessment and decision-making skills, with the ability to identify urgent and complex housing needs.
• Strong administrative and organisational skills with a high level of attention to detail.
• Ability to manage a varied workload and prioritise tasks effectively in a fast-paced environment.
• Good IT skills, including experience using case management or housing systems; knowledge of systems such as Orchard, MRI (Jigsaw), or similar would be beneficial.
• Ability to work independently whilst contributing positively as part of a team.
• A housing-related qualification (such as CIH) is desirable, or a willingness to work towards obtaining one.
• Understanding of safeguarding, equality, diversity, and confidentiality principles.