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A week in the life… of a voids and allocations officer – when exchanges and moves are cancelled
Emma Elston is a voids and allocations officer at Mid Devon District Council. As her normal work has been put on hold, this week she has to turn her attention to anti-social behaviour cases
Monday
I was looking forward to Monday, as having the routine of work provides some sort of normality. All voids, allocations and mutual exchanges have been put on hold until further notice, so I’ve been given other tasks to work on.
So, on goes my anti-social behaviour hat. I am working on four closure orders to tackle a county lines drug issue. We were successful in obtaining these.
Today, for me, its full steam ahead with the notices. At 11am we have a daily team meeting via Skype, and we also communicate throughout the day via a WhatsApp group. It is great to keep in touch with the team and hear what each other are doing. Colleagues have been calling customers with ‘Lifeline alarms’ – private occupants as well as tenants of our own housing stock.
It was reported how most of the calls were greatly appreciated. A colleague shared her favourite conversation from the day, which put a smile on my face: a customer was asked to test her alarm pendant and her response was: “Can I finish watching Countdown first?”
Tuesday
Today has been a struggle. With legislation changing so quickly, it is really difficult to keep up. My day has consisted of responding to emails, a team catch-up and researching legislative changes.
I also went out for some fresh air and saw many fabulous rainbows.
Wednesday
While working on the possession cases, I took a moment out to reflect on what a typical Wednesday before the COVID-19 crisis looked like.
It would typically be a shortlisting and viewing day. We would also be preparing for the Friday sign-ups that week, ensuring that applicants have been verified.
Thursday
After much deliberation, we have agreed to go ahead and issue the proceedings in the possession cases.
On a different note, there’s another clapping session for the NHS this evening – it really does bring the community together.
Friday
Today I reported back to my team leader about my week.
I have been keeping up to date with interim legislative changes that have been going through parliament, in order to assess the best route for the possession on the closed properties. This has been challenging as it has been hard to keep up with all the changes.
Next week I am starting something new.
I finished the week by introducing myself to a new crew of housing helpers who are on hand and ready to help the housing service contact our tenants who are over 70.
I will also be doing a daily Q&A session on Facebook. I am really looking forward to seeing what the uptake will be and hope there will be a positive increase as the week goes on.
A week in the life series
Our ‘A week in the life’ series features housing professionals talking through what they do in their job on a day-to-day basis.
Find out about the different challenges housing workers in a variety of roles face in a given week.
We aim to feature staff from housing associations, ALMOs, local authorities and more.
Click here to nominate yourself or a colleague for inclusion
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