Community Housing Assistant

Community Housing Assistant

Reading base, working across Berkshire, Slough and Hampshire

Permanent Contract, Part Time (22.5 hpw)

Salary circa £21,000 pa (pro-rata), negotiable based on skills and experience, plus brilliant benefits!

Empowering to live rewarding and happy lives. That’s when it hits home!

We have fabulous opportunity for you to join our team in the relatively new role of Community Housing Assistant. In a nutshell, your job will be to make our customers happy! It’s not just about providing our customers with a home, it’s about building relationships with them. This means that when it comes to those situations that are a bit difficult or tricky (which do happen from time to time) that we make it easier to deal with.

You’ll support the team to collect rent, fill void properties, manage estates and deal with anti-social behaviour, but this role is so much more than that. It’s also about working closely with your colleagues to make sure that where our customers need support, that we help them to live their best lives!

About our team

We’re a friendly dedicated team who operate across Berkshire, Slough and some of Hampshire. Our top priority is to make sure our customers receive a brilliant experience.

To us were not just a team we’re a ‘work family’. You’ll work closely with 6 Housing Managers who have a combined wealth of 40 years housing experience! You will report to Julia who has worked for Home Group for 24 years now and is glad to be back in the South West after a short stint working for Home Group in Yorkshire, the great news is that Julia really knows the business well! Outside of work Julia loves to spend time in the great outdoors at music festivals, walking her dog Murph on the beach, or trying to grow new things in her garden.

You’ll be based from our office in Reading and will look after our community patch in Berkshire, Slough and part of Hampshire. The great news is there is plenty of flexibility and some working from home and in the community, and we’ll give you the technical kit to make that easy.

Working hours

As a team we’re critical to supporting our customers, that’s why flexibility is key. You are proactive and accountable for managing your own diary which may include the occasional evening or weekend. The good news is it’s the team’s unwritten rule that you attend the important appointments in life. So, whether it’s your child’s school play, your partner’s graduation, or to get your new fridge delivered we’ll work with you in what matters. Our focus is on getting the job done, not your working hours!

About you

You're passionate about delivering excellent customer service and have a genuine desire to help your customers. You are a real collaborator, working with colleagues in your region, external partners as well as our Customer Service Centre colleagues, and our Housing Managers. You’ll use your creative spark and keen eye for detail to ensure our properties and environments are safe secure and well managed, supporting our communities to thrive. Naturally empathetic, you build rapport quickly and have a sound understanding of maintaining confidentiality and professional boundaries. It will also be brilliant if you have an understanding of housing management, housing law and universal credit too!

You’ll support our Housing Managers by carrying out generic Housing Management activities including arrears, void management, estate management, customer involvement, income management, lettings and other related tasks. You’ll also work towards meeting challenging targets and support our all-important routine safety and compliance checks and record them in a timely and accurate fashion, and signpost customers to our Customer Service Centre.

Here at Home Group we have invested heavily in our future and use current and up to date equipment. You’ll be issued with the latest kit, which could include a Surface Pro and mobile. So it's really important to us that you are technologically savvy (or at the very least not a technophobe!)

It would be amazing if you have worked in this type of environment before, however it’s your “can do” positive attitude, passion for customer service and enthusiasm that are critical to make this role a success. We can nurture your talent, just let us know in your cover letter why you have a passion for working here!

As this is a Mobile working and community-based job, you need to be able to drive, as well as having access to a car which has been insured for business purposes. Don’t worry, we’ll pay you expenses to cover this use!

When you join, you’ll need to have a valid Enhanced Check under the Disclosure and Barring Service. The great news is that we will pay for that to be done if you don’t have a transferrable one.

Want to know more?

If you’re not reading this advert on our careers pages, press the APPLY NOW button to access lots of useful stuff! You’ll be able to download the Community Housing Assistant job description, and find out more about Home Group. We’ve also got some short films that show you what it’s like to work here, and we know you’ll want to find out more about our award winning benefits and rewards!

To apply

Don’t delay applying for this brilliant job, as we may close it early if we get lots of applications! Just upload your CV and if you have one, your covering letter (this will help us learn more about you!). If you need them, we’ve also got some great templates to help you.

During Covid

We’re continuing to deliver services for our customers during the COVID-19 pandemic, and our brilliant colleagues are at the very heart of making that happen. We’re doing things a little differently at the moment, so to keep everyone safe, we’ll engage with you digitally where possible. Check out our awesome video to find out more on how our colleagues have felt supported here during the outbreak.

Be yourself at Home

Home Group is committed to tackling prejudice and discrimination, not just for our customers, but for our colleagues too! We’re super proud of our internal Diversity Networks and allies (Multicultural, LGBTQIA+ and Disability) which support colleagues from different backgrounds to be their true selves. We recognise and celebrate our differences, together we make Home Group a great place to work!