Housing jobs and the recession - Eleanor Badham

July 2010

Many people look to their housing association for advice across a variety of issues, and the recession means that they are increasingly looking for support in homelessness prevention and money advice. The sector has responded by developing new specialist functions.

Eleanor Badham is one of many housing officers performing this new type of role. She joined the Wales & West Housing Association (WWHA) as an Affordable Housing Development Officer and because of demand for financial help for existing home owners, her job became focused solely on offering a new mortgage rescue service for the association.

The mortgage service, funded jointly by the Welsh Government and the WWHA is a way of preventing home owners losing their homes. The main aim of the mortgage rescue service is to get people off a downward spiral into homelessness or temporary accommodation by buying equity in the house or by selling and renting back the property. Eleanor's job is to assess applications and help clients understand the options and to access the best advice before deciding on what to do.

She takes enquiries, visits people to gather information and liaises with mortgage lenders and other stakeholders. With a degree in surveying and past experience of business development and planning applications at a housing developer, Eleanor has had to develop new skills quickly.

"I needed entirely new skills for this role. It's all about getting people to talk to me to understand how they have got into problems. I have had to learn as I go along but we work in partnership with debt and housing charities and that's helped me gain the technical skills I need to provide the best possible service. It's really hard work but it is rewarding," she says. Importantly new learning and skills development such as Eleanor's can be accredited through vocational qualifications or an apprenticeship.