Melville Housing Association is a charitable Registered Social Landlord committed to supporting local communities by providing and developing high quality affordable homes and housing related services. Based in Dalkeith, just south of Edinburgh, we own and manage over 1,800 properties and our turnover is £6.4 million. Through our New Build Development Programme, we have increased our housing stock by over 20% on the past five years

Following a review of our resources, and to ensure that we meet the challenges of our changing environment, we have reorganised our Housing Services Section and are now seeking to recruit two permanent full-time members of staff to join our established Housing team..

The post holder will be responsible for delivering a high quality, flexible and supportive housing management service to our customers. You will need excellent verbal and written communication skills. The hours of work for each post is 35 hours per week, Monday to Friday (flexible working system). Other benefits include contributory final salary pension scheme, 25 days annual leave and 13 public holidays per annum.

Senior Housing Officer
£30,201

Reporting to our Head of Housing Services your duties will include the day to day management of our Housing Officers Team. This will include all aspects of estate management, neighbour complaints, arrears management and tenant participation. You will provide support to our Head of Housing Services and provide management cover to the section in their absence.

It is essential that you hold a professional housing qualification, have a full British driving licence and have some pervious experience of leading teams or projects.

To request an information pack for this vacancy please email Stacey McNealis, IT and HR Manager her email address is This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or our Corporate Services team 0131 654 4210 or visit our website www.melville.org.uk

For more information on these opportunities please call Vivienne Gray, Head of Housing Services on 0131 654 4219

Closing date for this post will be Friday 3 February 2012

A must attend event, support by the Scottish Government for all those working in housing management, housing support and advice and housing policy and strategy.

This national conference will bring together policy makers, stakeholders and practitioners to look beyond the 2012 target and identify key challenges and new priorities for the sector. This is a vital event for housing associations, local authorities and policy makers and an opportunity to hear from the Minister for Housing and Transport, Keith Brown MSP about the Scottish Government's plans to deliver on the 2012 commitment and address the issues of welfare reform, homelessness prevention and the provision of temporary accommodation.

This event will hear from a range of national and international speakers include Professor Dennis Culhane an advisor to the White House on homelessness policy from the University of Pennsylvania. Other organisations involved in the event include: The Scottish Housing Regulator, ALACHO, The Scottish Government and The Irish Council for Social Housing.

The conference will also be an opportunity to hear findings from Shelter Scotland's programme of new 2012 related research including: Better use of lets; A 21st Century Homelessness service; Implications of the Housing Support Duty and Funding Homelessness Services.

As a key part of developing partnerships, networking with practitioners and sharing best practice, there will be a number of focused workshops looking in more detail at key topics for the day:

1. Sustaining tenancies - early intervention for rent arrears
2. Making best use of lets
3. Working with young people to prevent homelessness
4. Responding to welfare reform at a local level
5. Partnerships with the private rented sector - what works?
6. Implications of the new Housing Support Duty

This must attend event will be a opportunity to learn more from the following speakers:
• Keith Brown MSP, Minister for Housing and Transport, Scottish Government
• Professor Dennis Culhane, University of Pennsylvania
• Graeme Brown, Director, Shelter Scotland
• Karen Murphy, Head of Services, Irish Council for Social Housin
• Michael Cameron, Chief Executive, Scottish Housing Regulator
• Marion Gibbs, Homelessness Team Leader, Scottish Government
• Janeine Barratt, Principal Officer Homelessness, North Ayrshire Council
• Jim Hayton, Policy Manager, ALACHO

We would like our readers to come up with names of key people who have been, or are significant in the housing sector. This is an exciting time for SFHA and we thought it only fitting that our readers should be involved in what is a very positive step for the Federation.

The SFHA Board will choose the three winning names and each of the three winners will receive a £30 voucher for John Lewis.

To enter, please email your suggestions to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . The successful entries will be announced in February 2012.

Entries of the same name will be put in same hats and three winners drawn. You can submit more than one entry. Closing date for entries is 1st Feb 2012

Best of luck!