Housing Officer – Look Ahead Care and Support, Islington

Housing Officer

We’re looking for a proactive, resilient and innovative Housing Officer to join our Landlord Services Team located at our Head Office in Islington.

£36,000.00 per annum, working 35 hours per week.

Want to feel like you have an exciting future? You’ll feel at home here.

Making you feel at home here means helping you thrive in every way. That’s why we offer a wide range of benefits, award-winning Learning & Development and a culture that welcomes all. These aren’t token gestures - we’ve thought long and hard about how best to support our team. After all, our people are doing something amazing: helping to transform lives every day.

Our benefits include:
• Annual leave increasing up to 30 days with length of service
• A generous pension – we will contribute up to 8% and life assurance cover up to 3x Pensionable Salary (T&Cs apply)
• Exclusive discounts and cashback via Reward Gateway® and opportunity to buy a Blue Light Card
• Fully paid induction programme and further training
• ILM courses and Apprenticeship Programmes
• Cycle to work scheme
• Employee Assistance Programme for 24-7 confidential support
• Online wellbeing resources
• Quarterly Staff Awards to reward & recognise our amazing staff’s commitment and contribution
• Free DBS (take this out if BSW advert)
All applicants must be legally eligible to work in the UK by the start of employment as Look Ahead are not able to offer sponsorship.

The Housing Officer is responsible for delivering frontline housing management services across Look Ahead's supported housing portfolio, including commissioned accommodation, community housing and specialist homelessness and mental health services.
The role acts as the primary landlord contact for residents, balancing landlord responsibilities with an understanding of vulnerability, support needs and tenancy sustainment. Working closely with Care and Support colleagues, Income teams, Property and Compliance services, statutory agencies and external partners, the Housing Officer plays a key role in helping residents maintain successful tenancies while ensuring homes, buildings and communities remain safe, compliant and well managed.
The role supports residents with a broad range of needs, including those experiencing mental ill health, substance misuse, self-neglect, offending histories, homelessness and social exclusion. The postholder is expected to exercise sound judgement, maintain clear professional boundaries and take ownership of cases from first identification of a concern through to resolution or escalation.
The Housing Officer is responsible for managing a varied caseload of tenancy, safeguarding, compliance, neighbourhood and resident safety issues, ensuring risks are identified early, actions are followed through and residents receive a consistent and effective housing management service.

The working pattern for this role is: Monday to Friday 9-5pm

What you’ll do:
1. Tenancy Management and Sustainment
• Manage a defined housing patch, acting as the principal landlord representative for residents.
• Take ownership of tenancy management activity including sign-ups, tenancy reviews, property visits, tenancy audits and tenancy enforcement.
• Support tenancy commencements and tenancy endings, ensuring properties, records and documentation are managed accurately and homes are ready for reletting within agreed timescales.
• Identify emerging tenancy risks and intervene before issues progress to tenancy breakdown, legal action or loss of accommodation.
• Work alongside Care and Support colleagues to coordinate interventions where residents are at risk of tenancy failure, balancing support needs with landlord responsibilities.
• Address tenancy breaches, abandonment, unauthorised occupation, persistent non-engagement and other housing management issues in accordance with policy.
• Support residents to understand their tenancy responsibilities while ensuring housing management decisions remain clear, consistent and defensible.
• Liaise with the Tenancy Sustainment Team, Clearing House and external agencies where coordinated action is required to support positive tenancy outcomes.
2. Safeguarding, Risk and Resident Safety
• Identify and respond to safeguarding concerns arising through housing management activity.
• Recognise indicators of self-neglect, exploitation, domestic abuse, mental ill health, hoarding and other circumstances that may place residents or others at risk.
• Work collaboratively with Care and Support teams and external professionals to ensure risks are understood, managed and regularly reviewed.
• Raise safeguarding concerns promptly and contribute to safeguarding meetings, risk reviews and multi-agency discussions where required.
• Manage complex cases where vulnerability, tenancy enforcement and resident safety intersect, ensuring agreed actions are progressed and risks are escalated where necessary.
• Escalate concerns where risks continue to increase, residents disengage or housing management interventions fail to achieve the required outcome.
3. ASB, Enforcement and Neighbourhood Management
• Investigate reports of antisocial behaviour, nuisance, harassment and breaches of tenancy agreements.
• Take ownership of cases, ensuring concerns are properly investigated, evidence is gathered and actions are progressed without unnecessary delay.
• Work with residents, police, local authorities, Care and Support teams and partner agencies to resolve neighbourhood issues and improve community safety.
• Contribute to legal and enforcement action where required, preparing case records and supporting managers with evidence gathering.
• Promote positive tenancy conduct and support the development of safe, stable and sustainable communities.
• Recognise where recurring ASB, disengagement or property concerns may indicate wider vulnerability or safeguarding risks requiring a coordinated response.
4. Property Standards, Compliance and Estates
• Complete tenancy audits, estate inspections and property visits, identifying concerns relating to health and safety, property condition or resident wellbeing.
• Respond to hoarding, poor property condition and environmental concerns, working with residents, Care and Support teams and partner agencies to reduce risk and improve living conditions.
• Support access for repairs, servicing and statutory safety checks, particularly where residents are reluctant to engage or repeated access attempts have failed.
• Work closely with Property and Compliance teams to ensure actions relating to gas, fire, electrical and water safety are completed and recorded.
• Escalate concerns where access issues, property condition or resident behaviour create significant compliance or safety risks.
• Contribute to maintaining safe, clean and well-managed homes and communal environments.
5. Partnership Working and Resident Experience
• Develop effective working relationships with local authorities, social care teams, healthcare professionals, probation services, mental health services, substance misuse providers and other partner agencies.
• Participate actively in case reviews, professional meetings and multi-agency discussions, ensuring housing risks and landlord responsibilities are clearly represented.
• Advocate for residents where this supports sustainable housing outcomes and tenancy sustainment.
• Communicate clearly and professionally with residents, ensuring decisions are understood and expectations are clearly set.
• Promote resident involvement, customer feedback and co-production opportunities, using resident insight to help improve housing services and outcomes.
• Ensure housing management practice reflects Look Ahead’s commitment to partnership working, customer involvement and positive resident outcomes.
6. Performance, Quality and Professional Practice
• Maintain accurate, contemporaneous and auditable housing records.
• Ensure casework is progressed effectively, with actions completed and risks reviewed within required timescales.
• Work alongside Income colleagues to identify tenancy risks arising from arrears, benefit disruption or financial hardship, contributing to coordinated interventions that support tenancy sustainment.
• Contribute to audits, inspections, service reviews and continuous improvement activity.
• Use professional judgement when making housing management decisions, recognising when matters require escalation.
• Maintain up-to-date knowledge of housing management practice, safeguarding requirements, housing law and relevant legislation to ensure services remain compliant and resident focused.
Key relationships
• Customers and their representatives
• Housing Operations Manager
• Head of Housing
• Income Team
• Care and Support Teams
• Property and Compliance Teams
• Tenancy Sustainment Teams
• Clearing House
• Local Authorities
• Social Care and Health Partners
• Police and Community Safety Teams
• External Support Providers

This is not an exhaustive list of all the duties and responsibilities that may be required from time to time and is subject to change in accordance with the needs of Look Ahead

About you:
• Demonstrates resilience and professionalism when managing complex and challenging situations.
• Maintains clear professional boundaries whilst building positive relationships with residents and stakeholders.
• Takes personal responsibility for resolving issues and following actions through to completion.
• Exercises sound judgement and remains calm when managing risk, conflict and competing priorities.
• Committed to equality, diversity and inclusion and treats all individuals with dignity and respect.
• Demonstrates curiosity, initiative and a commitment to continuous learning and improvement.

What you’ll bring:

Essential:
• Educated to GCSE standard or equivalent including English and Mathematics.
• Experience of housing management within social housing, supported housing or a related environment.
• Experience of managing complex tenancy issues, including ASB, safeguarding concerns, tenancy breaches and resident vulnerability.
• Experience of working with residents who may have support needs related to homelessness, mental health, substance misuse, offending histories or social exclusion.
• Experience of partnership working with statutory and voluntary sector agencies.
• Experience of undertaking tenancy audits, property inspections and housing management visits.

Desirable:
• CIH Level 3 or equivalent housing qualification.
• Safeguarding or housing-related professional training.
• Experience of working within supported housing, homelessness, mental health or other specialist housing services.
• Experience of participating in safeguarding meetings and multi-agency risk management processes.
• Experience of preparing cases for legal action or supporting court proceedings.
• Knowledge of welfare benefits, Universal Credit and financial inclusion initiatives.

About us:

Look Ahead is a leading, not-for-profit care and support provider in London and the South East. Our vision is to build better lives through social care and housing in local communities. As an organisation we deliver over 100 services, providing support to thousands of customers each year. Our mission is to co-design and deliver services that offer innovative social care solutions and support people to thrive. We work across mental health, homelessness and complex needs, young people and care leavers and learning disabilities so there are plenty of opportunities to grow and progress your career with us.
We have a strong social purpose and we live and work by our values:
• We focus on Excellence and innovation.
• We are Caring and Compassionate.
• We are Inclusive and Trusted.
• We work in Partnership and are One-Team.
Look Ahead is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and adults at risk, and expects all employees, workers and volunteers to share this commitment.

If your application for this role is unsuccessful, but we feel that you would be suitable for another role, we may contact you to discuss alternative opportunities. If this occurs you would not need to submit another application for the alternative role.

We reserve the right to close this advert early if we are able to appoint to the vacancy before the advertised closed date.

We are committed to diversity and inclusion at work and are accredited with Silver in the Inclusive Employers Standard 2021. We are a proud member of the Employers Domestic Abuse Covenant and encourage applications from a diverse range of applicants of all backgrounds.