Housing Options Officer

We are looking for a compassionate, resilient and customer-focused Housing Options Officer to join our busy Housing Solutions team. 

This is a rewarding frontline role where you will support residents facing housing difficulties, providing expert advice and practical solutions to prevent and relieve homelessness.

This role is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and therefore subject to an enhanced DBS certificate. It is also a regulated activity and will be subject to a Children and Adults Barred List check. West Northamptonshire Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and vulnerable adults and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.

You can also see our full list of employee benefits on our careers site here: Why you should work for us | West Northamptonshire Council

As a Housing Options Officer, you will manage a varied caseload, supporting customers from their initial enquiry through to case closure. Working in partnership with individuals, families, housing providers, support agencies and statutory services, you will assess needs, investigate homelessness applications and develop personalised housing plans that help people secure and sustain suitable accommodation.

Provide advice on a wide range of housing issues, including homelessness prevention, welfare and housing support, private rented accommodation, safeguarding concerns and tenancy-related matters. The role requires you to make enquiries and decisions under housing legislation, including the Housing Act 1996 and Homelessness Reduction Act 2017, while ensuring customers receive timely, accurate and professional support.

You will need to have experience of delivering customer-focused services in a high-demand environment, ideally within housing, homelessness, welfare or a related field. 

You will possess excellent communication, negotiation and decision-making skills, together with the ability to interpret legislation, manage competing priorities and build effective relationships with customers and professional partners.

This is an excellent opportunity for someone who is passionate about helping people achieve positive housing outcomes and wants to play a key role in delivering a high-quality housing options service across West Northamptonshire.

At West Northants Council, it’s about our people. People who thrive with ambition, bubble with new ideas, demand better ways of working, caring about every detail, and who never shy away from a challenge. Our culture is a gateway for new experiences. A place to forge new opportunities. To empower you in your career and unite you with like-minded people.

Our vision is ‘to make West Northants a great place to live, work, visit and thrive’. We truly stand by this and work hard every day to make this a reality. Our corporate values, THRIVE, stand for: Trust, High Performance, Respect, Innovate and Empower, they underpin everything we do and how we deliver services.  

We are committed to ensuring diversity, equality, equity, and inclusion is woven into the fabric of WNC and everything we do, to enable all colleagues to develop and maximize their full potential.  We are a disability confident employer, a member of the Armed Forces Covenant, and a Care Leaver Covenant partner

The following film was created by us to communicate our intentions - watch WNC colleagues explain what DEI means to us.

If you need additional support or reasonable adjustments during the application process, including needing the job description in another format or language, please email [email removed] for support.

Please note we reserve the right to close the advert early if we receive a high volume of suitable applications, so we recommend applying as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.

West Northants Council, where careers thrive.