Dementia Adviser

Would you like to help people understand and enforce their housing rights?  Then join Shelter’s emergency helpline as a Telephone and Online Advice Services Adviser. We are recruiting for 4 new positions to join our team.

You don’t need previous housing advice experience as Shelter will provide full training and support.

About Shelter

A home is a fundamental human need, as essential as education or healthcare. Yet millions of people across Britain struggle on a daily basis with homelessness, bad housing conditions, soaring rents, discrimination, and the threat of eviction. So, we are striving for change, with individuals, in communities, across society, and leading the way to a safe home. We need ambitious, best-in-class individuals who are passionate about our cause to join us at this exciting time. This is your chance to play a part in the fundamental change we are striving to achieve.

At Shelter we are united by our purpose to defend the right to a safe home. Our enemy is the social injustice at the core of the escalating housing emergency. We believe that to win that fight, we must be representative of the people we are here to help and those who support our movement for change. In all our people decisions, we take pride in being inclusive, fair, equitable and transparent.

We have committed to combat racism both within and outside Shelter and welcome you on our journey to becoming a truly anti-racist organisation.

About the team

Shelter’s telephone and online advice services are crucial in our fight to defend the right to a safe home, encompassing our emergency Helpline, webchat and a remote casework service. We are the largest service in Shelter and the client data we capture is used to inform and support the organisation’s strategy as well as providing information for media, policy and research, so you will play a key role in fighting the housing emergency.

About the Role

Day to day you will be working on Shelter’s Emergency Helpline, providing legal advice and assistance to members of the public who are facing a housing or homelessness crisis.

This is a high-pressure environment, so you will need the resilience to be able to respond immediately and effectively to the situations you are presented with. Clients will typically be experiencing a housing emergency, and some will be vulnerable or extremely distressed.

You will need to use your initiative to help resolve your clients’ issues such as liaising with third parties local authorities and reviewing legal documentation.

The Helpline is open Monday to Friday 8am – 6pm and Advisers work a 6-week shift rota which includes late shifts.

About you

You will need to be able to communicate complex legal information clearly both verbally and in writing and work independently in a pressured environment. Emotional resilience will also be crucial to effectively help clients who are distressed, experiencing trauma or may be at risk of harm. You will need to be proficient in IT, including Microsoft Office and typing. Equality, Diversity and Inclusion are key to everything we do at Shelter and you will be expected to actively promote these principles in all your contact with colleague and clients.