Housing Assistant – Homelessness Prevention & Housing Options Team (HP&HOT)
City Chambers
Salary: £27,257 - £29,850
Hours: 36 per week
The City of Edinburgh Council’s Homelessness Prevention and Housing Options Team is at the frontline for tackling and preventing homelessness in Edinburgh.
An exciting opportunity has arisen for a full time HP&HOT Housing Assistant to support Homeless Housing Officers with the prevention and statutory duty requirements to households who are homeless or threatened with homelessness in Edinburgh.
All posts will be based in any of the following locations at any given time:
- 249 High Street, Edinburgh
- North West Office – 8 West Pilton Gardens, Edinburgh
- North East Office – 101 Niddrie Mains Road, Edinburgh
- South East Office – 40 Captains Road, Edinburgh
- South West Office – 10 Westside Plaza, Edinburgh
- Working from home
Please note that that at any point in your employment with the Council that you may be required to work in any location across Edinburgh and therefore the above locations may change at short notice.
The HP&HOT Housing Assistant will work in a statutory service supporting Housing Officers to provide advice and support to customers to prevent and resolve homelessness by helping them remain in their home or where this is not possible secure a home.
They will provide assistance with ongoing management of cases, ensuring that homeless applicants are accessing appropriate support, considering their full housing options and bidding appropriately to enable them to secure permanent accommodation.
The role will be administrative with ongoing customer contact, maintaining records and closing cases timeously. This will enable Housing Officers to focus on the provision of high quality and person-centred case work to assist households to resolve their homelessness.
The HP&HOT Housing Assistant will fulfil the Council’s duties by working to legislative and good practice requirements and in collaboration with many other statutory services and partner organisations.
Successful candidates require resilience and excellent organisational skills as they will be working within a busy service area with competing demands. They must be able to take ownership and responsibility for their tasks and have a proven track record of working within a challenging frontline service.
This post is subject to a basic disclosure check. Where an individual has spent a continuous period of 3 months or more out with the UK in the last 5 years, an Overseas Criminal Record Check will be required. You will be required to provide this check. An unconditional offer of employment and commencement in the post will be subject to the outcome of both these pre-employment checks being deemed satisfactory.
We are committed to a diverse and inclusive workforce where everyone feels valued and able to be their best. We particularly encourage applications from women for senior roles, as well as people from minority ethnic backgrounds, people with disabilities or neurodivergent people, care experienced people, carers and LGBT+ people across all levels of the organisation, all of whom are currently underrepresented. All applicants will be considered fairly based on skills and experience. Disabled and care-experienced applicants who meet the minimum job criteria will be guaranteed an interview.
Find out more about our commitment to equalities https://www.edinburgh.gov.uk/work-us/inclusive-edinburgh/4
As part of our goal to improve organisational culture and create a great place to work together for the people of Edinburgh, we want to make sure we're recruiting the best people. We’re interested not only in your skills and experience but also in your approach to work. Therefore, part of our interview process will be an assessment of how you would bring Our Behaviours of Respect, Integrity and Flexibility into your ways of working.
You can find out more on Our Behaviours web page Our Behaviours – The City of Edinburgh Council
Our salary range typically reflects the initial starting salary and annually increases until it reaches the top of the range.
Happy to talk flexible working.
Follow us on X at @edincounciljobs
View Housing Assistant job description
View Housing Assistant person specification
THE CITY OF EDINBURGH COUNCIL
About Us:
Are you keen to shape the future of Scotland’s capital city? The City of Edinburgh Council is looking for dedicated and enthusiastic individuals to work with us and deliver key services across our capital city. We’re the second largest local authority in Scotland with a workforce of over 19,000 who all play a crucial role in maintaining and supporting vital services to over 500,000 residents. We offer an incredible variety of career opportunities across a broad range of sectors. Join us and you’ll find a role where you can make a difference and grow your career.
Our Culture:
Our Behaviours, respect, integrity, and flexibility guide everything that we do, and we strive to make sure all colleagues feel valued and have a sense of belonging in the workplace. We want to make sure that we bring people into our roles who demonstrate Our Behaviours and are dedicated and committed to our purpose of serving our community. We are focused on delivering excellent customer service to meet citizens needs and make the city a better place.
You can find out more on Our Behaviours web page Our Behaviours – The City of Edinburgh Council.
Equality, Diversity and Inclusion:
We recognise the benefits that diverse perspectives, experiences and backgrounds bring to our organisation, and we’re committed to employing a workforce that represents the population of the city we serve. We particularly encourage applicants from under-represented groups including women, LGBT+ people, racially minoritised groups, people with disabilities and people who are neurodivergent.
As part of our commitment to inclusive recruitment, we're delighted to announce that we have extended our guaranteed interview scheme to include all applicants who are or have been care experienced, and who meet the essential criteria for the post. This extends our current arrangements of being a Disability Confident Employer, that guarantee an interview to applicants who meet the criteria for the post and who declare a disability.
Happy to talk flexible working.
Colleague Support and Wellbeing
As outlined in our People Strategy 2024-27, we aim to nurture a healthy workforce where we can all thrive. We offer regular events, initiatives and learning opportunities covering a range of different health and wellbeing topics.
We’re committed to supporting employees to achieve a healthy work life balance. There are several policies in place to support this ranging from flexible work options to career breaks. Our full suite of employment policies can be found here.
We have a range of support options available including access to counselling, a mental health support service, an occupational health service, speak up supporters and a colleague listening service.
Reasonable Adjustments:
We’re committed to providing an inclusive and accessible experience at work for all our colleagues and we’ll work hard to ensure that we meet the changing needs of colleagues throughout their time with us. We’re also geared up to support all candidates who may require reasonable adjustments during the recruitment process. Candidates invited for interview, should let the hiring manager know what they need, and they will do everything they can to accommodate your request.
