Claire

Our people

Life as a Housing Officer

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Read her story

Interviewer: What kind of opportunities have you had to make meaningful connection in your role to the community?

Claire: "There are a lot of great opportunities for community connection in my role as Housing Officer in the Integrated Housing Program (IHP). We work very closely with the staff of the specialised homeless services, as they support their clients to access and maintain housing.

IHP has introduced a “Meet & Greet” session prior to housing to new applicants. This has enabled us to ‘place match’ person to property and has increased our team’s links to the homelessness community, specifically the rough sleepers in the CBD. Our team are recognised and known in the community, which feels quite special.

We work closely with the specialised homelessness to link clients with services and supports, making referrals and assisting people to engage. This also brings connection with the wider community.

Working as part of the IHP team, and attending all the reginal SA Housing Authority (the Authority) offices in Adelaide, has helped me to build strong relationships with Authority staff in lots of other roles and areas.

It does not sound like it would be a very positive connection, but investigating Antisocial Behaviour Complaints has also enabled me to build meaningful connection with the community. Ringing people to discuss what is happening, to hear what has occurred and to help people feel heard and understood, has been a very rewarding experience for me. Assisting people to feel heard and validated has been incredibly meaningful as we work to find solutions and explore options to resolve the issues."

Interviewer: How do you feel your role impacts other people’s lives?

Claire: "Our role mostly has a very positive impact of people’s lives – many of the people we house have other failed experiences of housing, have experienced long-term homelessness, trauma, etc, and who have frequently lost hope and become distrustful of services.
Assisting someone find their ‘forever home’, and assisting them to maintain it, is life-changing. Watching that individual grow into their new circumstances and achieve positive growth is so rewarding.

Even when a tenancy is failing, we help make positive impact to the community by assisting the person to leave in a less impactful manner – assisting to organise storage, repairs, remove squatters, etc. allows someone to end their tenancy with dignity and reduces the negative impact to the community."

Interviewer: How are you encouraged to bring your whole self to work?

Claire: "The IHP Program Manager always encourages our team members to bring our whole selves to every interaction and work experience – we all have our own strengths, value-bases, and experiences, our own ways of communicating and relationship building. We are encouraged to bring as much of ourselves as we feel comfortable to share (as long as we stay within policy guidelines. Our Program Manager does not have a homogenous approach to the role – she allows each of us to ‘make it our own’. All IHP staff come from different backgrounds and life experiences – we are encouraged to share these where we feel comfortable to build relationships and rapport."

Interviewer: What are the benefits of your work — what motivates you?

Claire: "I feel supported by my team and enjoy my work – the positive changes it can bring and the outcomes we achieve motivate me on a daily basis.

Our days are never the same. There is always something happening and new things coming across our desks. There are frustrations but these are easily over-shadowed by the many positive outcomes we see."