The apprenticeships helping the housing workforce meet new challenges

Unrelenting economic pressures and inevitable government changes to the focus of social housing work is creating new challenges for those working in the sector. With the spotlight firmly on the needs of tenants and a drive to promote active citizenship and social inclusion, the skills and talents organisations need to thrive in the housing world are changing rapidly.

Housing management has shifted away from an approach based on managing bricks and mortar and making sure that rents are paid on time. Now housing associations are focussed on promoting sustainable communities and forming partnerships with other agencies to share resources and maximise investment into communities.

The development of new qualifications in housing has highlighted just how much the work of the housing officer has changed - there really is no such thing as a typical housing officer any more. At Asset Skills the Sector Skills Council for housing, the new apprenticeships in housing are the most recent qualifications in the sector. On a par with A-Levels, they have been prepared in conjunction with employers and the Chartered institute of Housing.

Richard Beamish, Chief Executive of Asset Skills says "People working in housing have had to tackle significant shifts in their work because of the recession and new environmental considerations. New qualifications have had to take account of these changes and we have for example, introduced units in community development and support work into our housing apprenticeships".

A shifting emphasis

Increasing emphasis on developing communities and the supporting individuals in them means that in addition to managing the physical assets and estates, officers need to ensure that tenants live in a healthy and safe environment that supports community stability and well-being.

At one of London's largest housing organisations Peabody, there has been a growing awareness for some time that housing officers take on this broader role.

"We know that housing is not just about collecting the rent. Much of our work is about talking to residents, opening up opportunities and finding ways of improving people's lives. Employment and training and healthy living are all part of the remit of our community service teams," says Chief Executive of Peabody, Steve Howlett "It's about being a 21st century organisation. The best housing organisations have been trying to work like this but now there's a new drive and an imperative."

On the front line, housing officers need fantastic communication skills to be able to deal appropriately with a range of people who have diverse problems, different needs and aspirations and are from all manner of cultural backgrounds. This is especially important as there is no ready supply of housing or support for all those that need a permanent home.

"A tough economic climate often means that there is not always good news for tenants and our housing officers need strong communication skills to explain this," says Howlett, who is also a board member of Asset Skills. "Our staff need customer service skills as a first requirement - offering a warm welcome and a positive first response. But they also need technical skills and know-how to back this up."

Housing and the recession - job roles with a social purpose

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 Badham's can be accredited through vocational qualifications or an apprenticeship.

At New Charter Housing Trust in Ashton-Under-Lyne, there is also an increased focus on helping communities to manage their money more effectively.

The housing team required new skills in order to launch its financial advice services and support the move from a traditional approach of collecting arrears to a system of active advice and management.

An experienced welfare benefits adviser was employed and then the team got going with developing their skills in-house. Courses on finance and welfare benefits for its housing staff were run by local agencies building up networks of contacts as well as sharing experience and knowledge. New Charter now offers a spread of welfare benefits advice, debt counselling and support for tenants before they take on a home independently.

Julie Vickers, who oversees the revenue teams at New Charter, says that the approach is paying off. Rent is the housing association's biggest source of income and collection rates have been going up since it expanded its advice services. For staff, the job has got more interesting and the team has expanded.

"Our focus now is on help, engagement and keeping people in their home. It means that there is much more variety to working in housing. We have grown the team in the last 12 months, adding one person to the welfare benefits team and one person to the debt team. We are really busy and in the past eight months the debt team has handled customers with £1.5million of debt."

And looking to the future Vickers says, "The recession has acted as a catalyst as more and more tenants recognise that they need help. Our next phase will be looking at how we get people back into work. We recognise our broader welfare role in looking after our community".

New roles and apprenticeships

These new roles in emerging areas of work offer employment to people who might not have considered working in housing before. Peabody has noticed a difference over the last year. "I have been really impressed with the numbers of people we have been recruiting with a range of fantastic skills and experience. Many people come into housing with a degree but we have a much broader range of recruits including people who have had other careers sometimes in the customer care field" says Steve Howlett.

For those without a large CV of previous work experience, apprenticeships are seen as a way of training up people with the right attitude. At Peabody, apprentices will make up 5% of all new employees in the future. They are flexible enough to respond to new job functions and "Apprenticeships offer a really good balance between the practical and the theoretical side of housing. We can see people learning on the job by working alongside others with lots of experience - and having the opportunity of a structured training programme".

And at Asset Skills they are setting up support services for employers, training providers and apprentices to help them understand and make the most of new qualifications that support emerging roles. Richard Beamish says "The Virtual Academy for Housing will make sure housing associations can access the information and advice, training providers, qualifications and possible funding they need to implement programmes that respond to their needs".

The opportunities offered by new roles and supported by apprenticeships and training means that the sector is increasingly attracting people looking to contribute positively to society. You don't need to be a housing officer either as Howlett says "Housing organisations are incredibly complicated, offering all sorts of services. The idea that you are working for an organisation with a social purpose can be inspirational. People who work here do make a real difference".

For more information on new qualifications in housing, or to get involved in the new Asset Skills Virtual Academy for Housing, contact Catharine Hinton, Housing Adviser at Asset Skills, at chinton@assetskills.org or call 07554 452 286. Alternatively, call the main Asset Skills number 0845 678 2 888 (local rate call).