Emergency Accommodation Officer

Job description

Contract Terms

Starting salary: SO1 (£37,068 – £38,058) + Shift Allowance
Work Location: Birkbeck, Broadwater & Whitehall Lodge in Haringey.
Hours per week: 36 per week, shift work (5 days out of 7)
Contract type: Permanent 
Closing date: Sunday, 20th July 2025

About Haringey

Haringey is a fantastic place to live and work – the world in one borough. A place brimming with creativity, personality, radicalism, and community. It is a place where we stand up for each other. A place that is proudly distinctive. We’ll be celebrating all this and more as the “rebel borough” when we are the 2027 London Borough of Culture.

Our history champions change-makers and everyday rebels; revelling in our differences, battling discrimination, championing equality, and doing things our own way. Haringey’s people are a huge asset, with knowledge, expertise, and passion. Our staff members embody our organisational values: Caring, Creative, Courageous, Collaborative and Community-focused. These values keep us looking forward, ambitious for the future, and continuously striving to do our very best for all of our residents.

About the Role

As an Emergency Accommodations Officer, you will play a central role in delivering safe, effective, and supportive temporary housing services to residents in Haringey’s accommodation lodges. Acting as a key link between residents and other council services, you’ll be responsible for creating a secure and welcoming environment during a time of transition and vulnerability.

Your day-to-day duties will include managing admissions and departures, overseeing room allocations, and ensuring all administrative procedures are carried out accurately. You’ll enforce accommodation rules with empathy and authority, assist with housing and benefit issues, and support residents as they work towards permanent rehousing through their Personalised Housing Plans.

You’ll be at the forefront of maintaining safety, conducting fire risk assessments, managing fire drills, and ensuring all necessary inspections are completed. You’ll also play a vital safeguarding role, protecting vulnerable adults and children and responding effectively to instances of anti-social behaviour.

This is a varied and rewarding role where your good customer service skills, interpersonal skills, attention to detail, and commitment to community wellbeing will have a lasting impact on people’s lives.

About the Team

Our Emergency Accommodations Team is a dedicated group of housing professionals committed to creating safe, well-managed spaces for vulnerable residents in temporary accommodation. With expertise in housing legislation, fire safety, welfare support and safeguarding, the team works collaboratively to deliver responsive services that put dignity and care at the forefront. We thrive in high-pressure environments, handle sensitive situations with professionalism and empathy, and take pride in supporting residents’ journeys toward secure and sustainable housing.

About You

You’re a confident and skilled professional with a firm grasp of housing legislation, fire safety, and safeguarding issues, ready to make a meaningful impact in the lives of homeless and vulnerable individuals. With deep knowledge of homelessness law, welfare reform, and adult and social care, you understand the complex challenges faced by those in temporary accommodation and know how to guide them with empathy, clarity, and consistency.

You’re highly organised, computer literate, and confident using systems like Word and Excel to maintain accurate records and clear written communications. Whether you’re managing anti-social behaviour, handling emergency situations, or navigating sensitive safeguarding issues, you remain calm, decisive, and compassionate.

You will have previous experience in customer focused settings, shaping you into a trusted problem-solver who works well both independently and as part of a team. You communicate effectively across diverse communities, with tact and professionalism—able to engage with people in distress or conflict while maintaining confidentiality and upholding equality, diversity and safety standards.

Working for Haringey

At Haringey Council we are committed to creating a workplace culture where all our people feel valued, included, and able to be their best at work, and we recognise the benefits of a diverse workforce so welcome applications from all ethnicities and communities so that we continue to make a difference to our residents and community. 

Our benefits package includes a leave entitlement up to 31 days + bank holidays, potential hybrid working opportunities, health and well-being support, a generous local government pension scheme and a range of discount schemes across leisure and culture that provide both financial and money-saving discounts.

Please note: we reserve the right to end this advert before the noted deadline if we receive sufficient applications. If you wish to apply for this role, please ensure that you do so as soon as possible.  

Additionally, we are aware that automated emails may be diverted through to junk email folders.  Please continue to check these through the application process.  If you have any questions about the status of your application, please contact ResourcingHub@haringey.gov.uk