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The job: Housing advice manager

The employer: Citizens Advice Bureau, Peterborough

鈥淏耻蝉测鈥�

Peterborough has a fairly dire lack of social housing: 7500 people are on the waiting list for social housing, so it鈥檚 quite a pressurised area to work in. There鈥檚 great variety because we see all comers and we鈥檙e never sure what鈥檚 going to happen day to day. It鈥檚 difficult to plan because clients tend to leave things to the last minute, like coming in the day before a court hearing to seek representation.

鈥渁 range of issues鈥�

We focus on homelessness and we鈥檙e in a dispersal area for asylum seekers. This brings additional challenges because as people get refugee status, they expect to get housing, but they鈥檙e not a priority. The job also runs the whole gamut of issues from notices seeking possession to evictions, housing disrepair and nuisance.

鈥渃omplex casework鈥�

You will need to be a technical expert on housing law and have done advocacy because there will be representational work. Ideally, we鈥檇 have someone from the not-for-profit sector because local authority people鈥檚 knowledge tends to focus on assured tenancies 鈥� their wider knowledge of housing law is not always as great.

鈥渕anage a team鈥�

You will need the people skills to manage and motivate a team of two specialist workers and a part-time administrator who work under a lot of pressure. We鈥檙e looking for someone with a track record of doing something similar before 鈥� probably someone who鈥檚 a housing manager now. We have two major contracts, with Peterborough council and the Legal Services Commission, so we鈥檙e not going to take a gamble on this post.

Salary: 拢24,001

Holiday is between 20 and 25 days a year and goes up every year. We鈥檙e not expecting to attract people who are purely motivated by money. But we have a fairly relaxed and supportive working environment and I can put my hand on my heart and say you鈥檙e putting something back into the local community.

Deadline: 25 January