subject: Housing Association Jobs [print this page] There are two different styles of housing jobs within the public sector: housing regeneration which deals with the more technical aspects of housing including architecture, surveying, project management; and social housing which deals with assisting people who have problems with housing i.e. homelessness, disputes, land and community issues. The latter covers those in housing association jobs which can prove to be a highly rewarding profession.
Housing association's manage properties in a specific area, keeping in regular contact with tenants, looking after rental income and dealing with repairs and neighbour nuisance issues. They may also work with specific clients, such as homeless people, minority groups or people with disabilities. Housing workers function within a strict but changing regulatory framework and are usually based in a central office or local neighbourhood housing office.
Jobs within a sector include housing officers, tenant liaison managers, maintenance workers and finance assistants. Typical roles in housing association may include the following:
- Setting rents, administering their collection and developing policies to deal with arrears
- Interviewing tenants and giving advice on tenant-landlord relationships, house purchasing and benefits
- Managing nuisance orders, referring cases to the neighbourhood nuisance team and attending court hearings
- Dealing with breaches of tenancy, abandoned tenancies and leasehold agreements resulting in possible evictions
- Liaising with tenant groups, local authority councillors and other welfare and property professionals, including social workers and estate agents as well as wardens, caretakers, cleaners and other maintenance staff
A housing association's main priorities are to enhance diverse communities, particularly those in inner-city areas. Associations also seek to empower and communicate with residents by setting up residents committees to give the locals a say on any future building plans or discuss any social issues they may be having, such as fear of crime or vandalism. Essentially, a housing association's main task is to provide high quality housing for residents and maintain existing stock through a series of regeneration or repair schemes whilst keeping them in the loop regarding any future developments.
As such, working with a housing association can be incredibly rewarding - enhancing the community feel of an area or providing good quality housing for a non-privileged individual.
