Housing is a hot topic for debate in the UK with the need for good quality, affordable housing never far from discussion. But have you ever thought about the jobs that exist within housing associations?
It's pretty common for people who work in housing to admit that they "never planned to work in housing". Lots of people say that they saw one job that interested them, and 15 years later they're still in the sector.
Why? Because there is so much variety, opportunities for career progression, and possibilities for changes in career.
Housing associations (HAs) exist in a unique space within the housing sector.
At once developers, landlords and investors in communities. They bridge the gap between the public and the private sector. Many HAs are big developers. We, for example, are aiming to build at least 10,000 homes by 2030. And HAs are also big landlords too with tens of thousands of homes available at affordable and social rent, as well as Shared Ownership, leasehold and market rent.
And these activities come with certain jobs. Perhaps some of which you might readily associate with housing. From our Trades who keep our homes running, through to our Housing Managers, Income teams, Customer Service and Land and Development teams.
Our work in communities is perhaps the lesser-known side of housing
But that’s certainly not all that we do. Perhaps the lesser-known side of housing is our work in communities. It’s the side of housing that a lot of people who are new to the sector don’t realise exists. You’ll find that a lot of larger housing associations have whole teams dedicated to helping people into employment and teach people how to better manage their finances.
Other teams focus on work in communities; managing the upkeep of things like our community cafes, running holiday food clubs, working in communities to set up allotments or gardening initiatives, or working with local organisations to run health, wellbeing and support groups.
And we've also got dedicated Community Safety teams who work closely with the organisations such as the Police and Domestic Abuse charities to help victims of domestic abuse get the help and support they need.
But that's not all, there's a lot going on 'behind the scenes' too
While those are our more customer-facing roles, as with any big organisation, you also need colleagues working behind the scenes, from finance to IT, HR and Facilities. And then you’ve got Communications. Not only for internal comms but external too.
Housing Associations work in the public sphere as much as they do in the private one. This means that being vocal about the important issues in our sector. It’s why we have a Press and External Affairs team who regularly work with our senior team to engage with the decision-makers, MPs, Councillors, and officials at a local and national level to help shape government policy.
So, working in housing is varied. It can be a challenging environment but it's also a rewarding one. And the sheer variety of roles available gives way to a lot of different career paths – anything is possible. And it's not unusual for colleagues to have started in one part of the organisation and ended up in another.
You can hear from a few of our colleagues who have done just that below.
Housing associations are responsible for the homes they own and everything that goes with it. This includes looking after their tenants, applications, repairs and maintenance and everything in between. It’s a vast array of services and plenty of job opportunities exist.
