Homelessness Prevention Specialist (Modern Slavery Response Service) in East London

We are Hestia. We make a difference. 

At Hestia, we are guided by our core values and are dedicated to fostering an equitable, diverse, and inclusive organisation. We provide a range of services, including Domestic Abuse support, Modern Slavery assistance, Mental Health & Complex Needs care, and Criminal Justice. Our mission is to empower individuals to rebuild their lives and achieve independence.

The service you will work in….

Our Modern Slavery Response Team works with potential survivors of Modern Slavery identified via the National Referral Mechanism. We help thousands of survivors to access services to aid their recovery and reintegration, which includes high quality emotional and practical support. We work in close partnership with key stakeholders and local partners to optimize outcomes for our service users. 

The purpose of the role is to provide excellent quality specialist support and guidance to advocates who are working with service users who are homeless or at risk of homelessness. The post holder will provide extensive knowledge around housing legislation and have a proven background in working with those impacted by housing related issues.

You will offer tailored support to advocates working with service users who are homeless or at risk of homelessness by liaising with local authorities, and other homeless stakeholders. You will act as a key point of contact to advocates and hold housing advice clinics and drop ins to support them to manage complex housing cases and provide strategic oversight. 

A day in this role looks like….

As a Homelessness Prevention Specialist at Hestia, you will play a crucial role in our Modern Slavery Response Service. Your contributions will directly influence the lives of our service users, guiding them towards a path of empowerment and independence.

A day will never look the same and some of the things you can expect to do/be responsible for are:

• Adopt a specialist lead role in working with Service Users experiencing homelessness and destitution to offer specialist support to advocates working with service users who are at risk of homelessness or who are homeless to access emergency housing support and interventions.
• Creatively and decisively highlight areas of best practice across the service where there are solutions to prevent and solve homelessness for service users.
• Provide support to advocates when dealing with complex housing cases.
• Review housing related applications and referrals and offer tailored support and advice on a case-by-case basis.
• Hold clinics during office hours to advise around housing issues and homelessness prevention.
• Share your knowledge and understanding of housing and homelessness legislation, in relation to private rented housing, local authority housing and homelessness.
• Keep updated on any changes to the Homelessness code of guidance.
• Keep up to date with contractual safehouse guidelines and regulations.
• Oversee service users in alternative accommodation due to homelessness.
• Provide support to advocates on difficult housing cases and sharing best practice.
• Attend team meetings and take part in Service policy and strategic planning.
• Create resources and update them regularly.
• Deliver housing related workshops around housing legislation to advocates.
• Be an active part of the housing champions group.
• Lead discussions at team meetings/away days around themes and trends with SU's that are impacting homelessness incidents.

Why Hestia?

Joining Hestia means more than just a job; it's an opportunity to be part of something bigger. We offer a supportive, inclusive and resolution driven work environment where your contributions are recognised and valued. As a member of our team, you will have the chance to grow both personally and professionally while making a lasting impact on the lives of those we serve.

We are looking for candidates who bring a combination of passion, expertise, and dedication to the table. To excel in this role, you should possess:

• You can demonstrate knowledge and experience or relevant qualifications of working with housing and homelessness legislation, in relation to private rented housing, the Homelessness Reduction Act and homelessness eviction and tenants' right.
• You have experience with advocacy and mediation around complex housing issues faced by the client group.
• You can demonstrate knowledge and experience of working with welfare benefits legislation (including welfare reform) and (Health and Safety)
• You have knowledge and experience of working with the causes of homelessness and the ability to create interventions with service users to address these.
• You are Solution focused and pro-active in achieving high quality client work and results in a fast paced and outcome focused environment.
• You have previously worked in a target led environment.
• You thrive in negotiating and accomplishing daily outcomes.
• You are an excellent communicator and people person who is genuine and empathetic.
• You have strong work ethics with excellent customer service focus.
• You have impeccable organisational skills.
• You can positively manage complex work projects and own workload in line with service standards and Hestia values, working towards client progression and meeting service targets and deadlines, reviewing work and priorities.
• You can use computer systems, including databases as part of your day-to-day work.
• You have strong communication skills and the ability to record good quality data, case notes, plans and outcomes accurately and timely.
• You are excellent at building relationships with team members and the public.
• You are socially conscious and want to make a difference. 
• You are great at building relationships with team members and the public.
• You are flexible and adaptable team player with a can-do attitude.

Our commitment to Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion

Our services users come from all walks of life and so do we. We hire great people from a wide variety of backgrounds because it makes us stronger. We are committed to creating and maintaining a diverse and inclusive workforce and value the skills, abilities, talent and experiences, different people and communities bring to our organisation.

We are a disability confident employer

Hestia is proud to be a disability confident employer, dedicated to the employment and career development of individuals with disabilities. We offer a guaranteed interview scheme for all applicants with disabilities who meet the minimum criteria for the role they have applied for. We also provide reasonable adjustments during the selection and interview process, and throughout your employment with us.

We reserve the right to close this job advert early should we receive a high volume of applications or if the position is filled before the closing date. We encourage interested candidates to apply as soon as possible to ensure their application is considered.