Street Homeless Support Worker

Why work for us: Employee benefits (southampton.gov.uk)

We are looking for an enthusiastic and motivated person to work within the Homelessness Unit, working as part of the Street Homeless prevention team (SHPT).

To ensure the provision of a high quality and comprehensive service in order to prevent Homelessness and Street Sleeping in Southampton.

To comply with the Authority’s statutory obligations under the Housing Act 1996 Part V11, Homelessness Act 2002 and the Homelessness reduction act 2017.

To work with the Authorities Homelessness strategy which focuses on preventing homelessness

The role will include:

1.To be accountable to the Intensive Support Officer or in their absence the Homelessness Manager.

2.To work with clients with multiple, complex and often challenging needs including mental health, drug and alcohol misuse issues. This could include on an outreach basis away from the office base and involve lone working.

3.To undertake street outreach work, to make and maintain contact with people who are at risk of homelessness or sleeping on the street to ensure that they can access services and accommodation, appropriate to their needs. To actively seek accommodation options for those who are street homeless and help them enter and maintain their accommodation.

4.To assess and identify the needs of those threatened with homelessness and assist those in acquiring the skills and support required to live in supported or independent accommodation. To continue this work should a threat of homelessness reoccur. To liaise closely with the homeless persons and the referring agencies to develop appropriate support plans and community links with the aim of preventing a return to a street lifestyle. (including training and employment)

5.To be part of a duty rota system for specific work within the team. This will include very early morning and occasional evening outreach work.

6.To have a working knowledge of all relevant local resources as an aid to the client. To seek advice, support and maintain relationships via regular meetings and contact with key agencies working with homeless people.

7.To work with, and ensure quick access to all appropriate services, such as the Community Mental Health Team, Homeless Healthcare Team , the Substance Misuse Services and Adult Services , in order to help clients maintain a current tenancy or exit the rough sleeping way of life .

8.To work within Southampton as a member of a Team, focusing on co-ordinated housing support, resettlement and community resource links. To identify creative and appropriate ways of meeting individual services users housing needs using local services and through negotiating with existing housing providers.

9.To adhere to the Council’s lone working and health and safety policies, ensuring all lone working risk assessments are fully understood and all lone working safety systems are used correctly.

Contact details for informal discussion:

For more information or an informal discussion about the role please contact Chris Payne on Christopher.Payne@southampton.gov.uk

Additional information:

Please note: Staff must seek permission from their Service Director /Head of Service BEFORE applying for any secondment opportunity. Please refer to the Secondment Policy for more information.

• This post requires an Enhanced DBS check.
• For any posts that require a DBS check, if you have lived outside the UK within the last 5 years, you will be required to provide a Certificate of Good Conduct or a police certificate from the country/countries you have resided in. Kindly note that this is at the expense of the candidate, as well as any costs involved for translating into English.
• This post is fixed term until April 2024
• this role attracts Contractual Car User Allowance

The supporting statement section of the application form must be completed unless there are specific criteria questions for you to evidence against. Applications are shortlisted against the essential and desirable criteria found within the job description for the post. Please refer to the job description when completing your application form and evidence how you meet the required criteria/questions. A CV on its own will not be considered.

Unfortunately we are not able to accept applications that are made through a third party agency. We cannot guarantee that any correspondence sent from third party agencies will be responded to.