Question 1 – What is your understanding of the role of a housing Officer?

My understanding of the Housing Officers role is to provide person-centered services to a diverse set of clients who
are experiencing challenging housing issues, whole of life issues and complex issues. This is achieved through
various means of communications as a part of the Service Delivery section of the Department of Housing and Public
Works (HPW).

Skills required to perform as a housing officer includes the following;

 Explaining to peers and shareholders on how our vision and purpose in the organisation are meeting our
KPI's and how our Service Delivery contribute towards the HPW strategic plan.
 Actively engaging through “person centered” approach with shareholders, internal and external from the
department to provide wide ranging solutions to the vulnerable clients which can empower and bring
confidence in their chosen solution to problem.
 The ability to be resilient, acceptable and adaptable to events or any given situations.
 Excellent knowledge, skills and expertise in service delivery and working in a team environment.
 Act professional at all times, be at all times transparent with decision making and understand the ethical
standard of being in the government service.

The role of a Housing Officer is integral to the Strategic Plan of 2019-23 of the Department of Housing and Public
Works. Our being responsive to those who needs our service, most especially the vulnerable connects and aligns
other services across Queensland. This results in a more sustainable approach to all needs-based assistance and
service conduit to our organisation.

Question 2 Considering the responsibilities of a housing officer what relevant strengths and skills you could
bring to the role.

I have demonstrated all my responsibilities as a housing officer in my daily duties. I have gained a reputation within
the team in achieving solutions for client's complex issues and needs on numerous occasions. In order to work
effectively, I use my personal strengths in communication and creativity skills while ensuring at all times I apply my
person centred approach to the solution.

A scenario that best displays this skill was during one particular day in June 2018 when nearing closing time of
business, a young female client presented herself with her personal belongings. She appeared quite stressed out
and was in dire needs of help. Upon assessing her physical appearances, she had a few bruises and looked quite
ashamed of herself at the front counter. I immediately thought of ways to help her communicate better to us and
asked her if she would feel better talking in a safe private room. She agreed and this made her feel comfortable.
After a brief discussion I then proceeded to listen to her attentively. I used my active listening techniques such as
paraphrasing and reinforcing questions. It was discovered that the client was experiencing domestic violence from
her partner and needed to leave her current dwelling as soon possible as possible.

After thanking her for taking the courage to talk to me about personal matters, I presented the client a list of options
to her best interest while always making sure to get her input. Whilst being aware of her present situation, we both
came to a mutual agreement that I would do a warm referral for her to seek the Centre for Women and Co for her
overnight/temporary refuge. The next day this client came back with a support worker from the refuge and
proceeded with the rent connect interview. We explored options of applying for public housing and for the HSC to
assist her in the private rental market with a bond loan and rental grant application.

The client stated that she felt safer than she's ever felt in a long time. However, she wishes to not reside in the
refuge for longer than she needs to. A high level of communication was used during this time as I need to explain
important aspect of our service both to client and a stakeholder. I had to be more careful and thoughtful in facilitating
a solution which would be agreeable to all involved parties. I use my negotiation and communications skills while
being transparent in my decision making. I made sure they understand the framework of our decision making. In the
end, we came to a solution in which I processed the application while informing the support worker the process
involves in Housing Needs Assessment (HNA) framework. Additionally, I also processed a pre-approval bond loan
for the client and explained wait times to both client and support worker and how the private market would the he
quickest solution to move out of the refuge. I then assured the client that she would have further assistance in the
private market in terms of her eligibility for a rental grant from us once she has secured a property.
After the rent connect interview both the client and support worker thanked me, and both felt confident about the
private rental market. I am also happy to mention that after a few days the client was able to secure a private rental
property with our assistance in a bond loan and rental grant. The refuge support worker was impressed with my work
with the client that helps developed strong professional working relationship between HSC and their organisation
which aligns the strategic plan 2019-2023 of being responsive and aligning support services across government
agencies.

In the property team, one of the team’s main tasks is to investigate properties for maintenance purposes. One recent
example in which both my knowledge and communication skills were tested was when one of our tenants
complained about a private neighbor's dogs damaging a shared fence in the island area of Dunwich. While
communicating with the tenant, I quickly determined that the dogs were a safety threat to the tenants’ young children
because the dogs being vicious and aggressive. I immediately raised it as urgent job for the Building and Assets
Team (BAS) to quickly make the fence safe. As the property is Dunwich, a place accessible only by ferry, this led to
poor communication from both BAS team and the tenant. I had to go beyond my responsibilities by facilitating
communications to both sides and helping issues resolved and rectified. This whole scenario gave me a better
understanding of the operational duties the BAS team have for our organization. Their procedures and how their
work fall into the HPW strategic plan – delivering building and maintenance for our clients and shareholders.
Additionally, another positive outcome to this situation was that I was able to reduce the cost of the repairs being half
cost to the private owners and the HSC Capalaba at a later date.

In my current role with the property team, I have a better understanding of the management and maintenance of
properties and as well as the function of property inspections. Having recently obtained my inspector license number,
I am now able to independently conduct and record Annual Property Inspection (API) for HSC Bayside Office. There
has been a recent incident in Wynnum, where a certain property has not had an API conducted in 3 years. This has
tested my knowledge being a licensed inspector. There were many property and facility based issues that have not
been addressed and communicated by the tenant to the HSC and likewise. I immediately incorporated both reporting
and guided tenant to report repairs to BAS contractors. I assessed both bathroom and fence in the property that
requires upgrades due to wear and tear. I use my creative skills in the many detailed pictures I took and drew
detailed surveys and requested BAS for a work upgrade quote for the property. BAS team understood that the
property would be one of the more urgent upgrades needing to occur as soon as possible. High level of
communication both to tenants and contractors was explained in finer details in email, phone and correspondence so
both parties are aware. The whole process took 8 weeks to action compared to other situations and I was recognised
for the positive outcome of the delivery of the work request to BAS.

Whilst I have no direct experience in terms of managing the tenancy wait lists, allocations and vacancies, it is a role
that I will be soon expected to perform in the next coming weeks upon my move to the tenancy team. I believe my
move to this role was put forward by the management team knowing that I will apply all my knowledge and
experiences in my previous roles to excel in this task. From my experience and looking at my mentors in this role, I
will use my high level of communication skill. In this way, I can co-ordinate with various shareholders including
support workers, applicants and family members in order to make sure the turnover of the tenancy from HSC
Bayside to the applicant is a smooth transition. I will use my transferable knowledge in understanding the regulations
and procedures set out by both the Department and the Residential Tenancies Authority (RTA). I plan to apply my
efficiency just like in every role I had performed and follow policy and procedures in every step of the work process. I
plan to study and remember the procedures of tenancy allocations. I can navigate tenancy information in the
intranet, SAP and RESIDE. Additionally, I will use my technical skills, so I can obtain required information to facilitate
the needs of the applicants. By applying all my transferable skills to this anticipated role, I am confident that I will
continue to contribute added values to our organisation. I will be able to meet clients’ needs through planning my
process, client engagement and prompt service delivery.

Conclusion
I have demonstrated my role as a Housing Officer through my 2 years of employment in the Department. I am able to
communicate effectively and efficiently. I can prioritise my workloads and is able to work with different teams and yet
get along well with everyone. Some of the personal qualities I will bring to the role is my willingness to learn by
undertaking additional training as presented in my resume. I regularly seek feedback about my performance and
welcome suggestions for improvement. My cooperation with team members and respect for people to all walks of life
and compassion to those who needs our housing service. I love to serve people and passionate in doing the extra
mile as stated in all my criterion and this has been validated by receiving the monthly employee of the month for
January this year. It would be an honour to contribute to the strategic plan of our organisation and I believe I can add
more considerable value to the role