Homelessness Prevention Officer

Overview

X2 - 12 months fixed term

Are you passionate about preventing homelessness and supporting people in finding sustainable housing solutions? Reading Borough Council is looking for a motivated, empathetic, and proactive individual to join our Housing Needs Team as a Homelessness Prevention Officer.

We seek the best talent from the widest pool of people as a diverse and inclusive team will be key to our success. Reading Borough Council is a Disability Confident Employer and is committed to the recruitment and continued employment of people with disabilities.

• Leading on your own caseload and work collaboratively with other partner agencies.
• You will work with members of the public to prevent them from losing their current home or to support them to secure a new one.
• The focus of the role is to prevent households from being homeless whilst working within the legal framework.
• The successful candidate will have the ability to negotiate through a variety of environments.
• Will require you to have difficult conversations and deliver on realistic expectations.

In this vital role, you’ll be working directly with residents at risk of homelessness to identify the root causes of their housing issues and support them to find lasting solutions. You’ll create and manage personalised housing plans, tailoring your approach to meet the unique needs of each customer. Whether it's negotiating with landlords, mediating family breakdowns, or identifying benefit entitlements, you’ll be there every step of the way to support people in maintaining or securing accommodation.

You’ll carry out interviews, home visits, and outreach work in a range of settings including homes, prisons, hostels, and hospitals. Using your knowledge of housing law, welfare benefits, and tenancy rights, you’ll provide timely, accurate advice and support to help people navigate complex and often urgent situations. Where homelessness cannot be prevented, you’ll be responsible for making statutory decisions in line with Part VII of the Housing Act 1996, managing casework to ensure compliance with legislation and best practice.

Collaboration is key in this role. You’ll work closely with internal departments, health services, social care, and local charities to safeguard vulnerable individuals and secure positive outcomes. You’ll also contribute to service development, support new team members, and play a key role in driving continuous improvement within our homelessness prevention service.

We are looking for an enthusiastic and self-motivated person with excellent communication skills and experience in problem solving and partnership working, with the ability to work with local residents to ensure their community feels safe. You will need to be able to complete case records, collate evidence and write witness statements, all underpinned with excellent organisational & IT skills and the ability to manage your own workload.

You’ll be part of a team that relies on each individual to play their part to the best of their ability. As well as the colleagues that you work closely with every day, you’ll also be part of Team Reading, playing your personal part in making Reading a successful and vibrant place.

Our vision is to ensure that Reading realises its potential as a great place to live, work and play, and that everyone shares the benefits of this success.

Work Together as one team - work collaboratively, with each other and with our partners, and demonstrate the Team Reading values in everything we do.

Drive Efficiency - show initiative, be adaptable to change and put forward ideas to help improve delivery and efficiency. Take responsibility for our own learning and development and for reaching our potential.

Be Ambitious - be demanding of our own performance – striving to be even better – and be prepared to engage with and challenge leaders in a constructive and positive way.

Make a Difference to Reading - maintain the highest levels of customer service and be flexible and willing to provide the services needed at the time they are needed.

We offer a supportive…