Homelessness Prevention Officer

Job Introduction

About the Service

Following the award of specialist government funding, we have created several new roles within our Housing & Homelessness Service to deliver our ambitious plans to prevent homelessness, reduce rough sleeping and protect vulnerable tenants. These newly created roles offer an exciting opportunity to make the role your own and help shape how the service is delivered from day one.

Worcester City Council’s Housing & Homelessness Service is committed to supporting individuals and families experiencing homelessness or at risk of losing their home. We provide a wide range of support, both in-house and through strong partnerships, to help our customers achieve stable and secure housing.

Prevention is at the heart of our approach—we work proactively to help people remain in their homes or move to more suitable accommodation before reaching crisis point. In recent years, we have made significant improvements to our temporary accommodation, enhanced the support we offer, and focused on improving the overall customer experience. We are proud of the high-quality, person-centred service we deliver.

We are a large, dynamic service made up of five teams delivering a broad range of housing functions (see structure chart for more detail).

About the role

Our Homelessness Prevention Officers are often the first point of contact for people facing a housing crisis. This is a rewarding and varied role where no two days are the same. You'll work directly with individuals and families who are homeless or threatened with homelessness, taking the time to fully understand their circumstances, identify the root causes of their housing difficulties and develop tailored solutions that help them remain safely housed wherever possible

You will manage your own caseload from initial assessment through to resolution, using a range of prevention tools and interventions to achieve positive outcomes. This could include helping customers maximise their income, mediating with family members or landlords, resolving tenancy issues, accessing specialist support services, or using housing legislation and enforcement powers to challenge unlawful practices and protect existing tenancies. Working closely with landlords, registered providers, support agencies and other statutory services, you will take a creative, proactive and customer-focused approach to preventing homelessness before it reaches crisis point

About you

We're looking for someone who is passionate about making a real difference to people's lives and who understands that effective homelessness prevention requires more than simply processing applications. You will be naturally curious, able to ask the right questions, gather information sensitively and build a complete picture of a customer's situation. Most importantly, you'll be able to develop practical, bespoke solutions that reflect the individual's circumstances and strengths rather than adopting a one-size-fits-all approach.

You should be able to:

• Build trusting relationships quickly with customers facing a housing crisis and take a compassionate, person-centred approach to support.
• Complete thorough housing and support needs assessments, identifying the root cause of homelessness and appropriate interventions.
• Manage a varied caseload independently, balancing competing priorities while maintaining excellent standards of case recording and administration.
• Apply housing and homelessness legislation effectively to support customers and make informed decisions.
• Investigate housing issues and tenancy concerns, gathering evidence and working with colleagues to resolve problems and prevent homelessness.
• Communicate clearly and professionally, both verbally and in writing, with customers, colleagues, landlords and partner organisations.

For full details of the role requirements, please see the attached Role Profile.

If you are passionate about delivering excellent public services and committed to driving positive change and improvement for our customers, now is a great time to join us.

We welcome applications from all sections of the community. We would like to help you shine during this process. If you need any assistance with applying, please contact the Recruitment team on recruitment@worcester.gov.uk. We can assist with alternative formats for your application.

For further information about the role, please contact Jade Foster, Homelessness Prevention & Projects Team Leader at jade.foster@worcester.gov.uk.

Closing Date: 28th September 2026

Interview date: Wednesday 14th and Thursday 15th October 2026.