Find out more about the roles of our housing officers. This time, we hear from one of our housing officers - environment.
What is your job title?
Housing officer – environment, but you might know us by our previous job title – neighbourhood ranger or ranger
How long have you been doing the role?
Five years
What are the main responsibilities of your role?
One of our main responsibilities is to ensure all blocks of flats are following strict fire safety measures. We do this by visiting each of the blocks in our area, testing the emergency lighting system and making sure there are no fire risks. Our visits often involve working with tenants to resolve any concerns and talking to tenants about their responsibilities.
As well as the blocks we are also look after the wider estates and gardens of council homes, which involves dealing with a variety of issues including abandoned vehicles, overgrown gardens, boundary disputes, fly tipping and dog fouling.
What does a typical day look like for you as a housing officer?
A typical day starts with checking our emails, voicemails and our online reporting system and looking at issues raised via the call centre or other departments. From there we visit estates - checking the blocks and wider areas. When we come across any issues we gather evidence and try to resolve things as quickly as possible.
We often work with our StreetScene colleagues to remove furniture, electricals and other rubbish that has been left in communal areas or on housing land. We also support our environmental protection team with the enforcement of fly-tipping on our estates.
What kind of support do you provide to council tenants?
Most of the direct support we provide to tenants is providing advice on how to correctly dispose of waste and how to rectify any issues on housing land. We also provide information on the wider housing service such as the Garden Assistance Scheme if a tenant is struggling to look after their garden.
What do you enjoy most about your job?
The thing I most enjoy about the job is having our own areas of the borough for which we are responsible and working with tenants and colleagues to make these estates safe and welcoming. Though there is paperwork involved this is still a hands on, practical job and you’re rarely doing the same thing twice.
What do you enjoy most about working with tenants?
The great thing about working in a particular area is you get to know the tenants that live there and speak to a lot of different people. We meet tenants with different vulnerabilities and needs and that brings its own challenges, but it also brings its own rewards when we work together and support them to live how they choose in their own space.
What’s the most rewarding part of your job?
The most rewarding part of our job is the opportunity to help people. We do sometimes have to share tricky or unpopular messages such as asking people to move things from communal areas or cut back their hedges, but it’s done with the safety of tenants in mind.
