Housing

Housing forms an integral part of Scotland’s landscape, and how it’s built, maintained and managed has far reaching impacts that affect everyone. But although the bricks and mortar aspects are important – working in the housing sector is much more far-reaching than that - it’s about making a positive difference to people’s lives by providing them with a decent home and environment which can form a springboard to better life chances.

A career in housing is exciting and can provide an incredible variety of options, such as strategy and policy development, housing management, resident engagement, or regeneration and maintenance. Whatever the role, by working in housing you could make a positive difference to the environment, to mitigating climate change, to reducing child poverty, or to improving the health and wellbeing of people in the community.

It can be a challenging job, but it’s a rewarding one. Front line housing officers support vulnerable people and deal with complex situations on a day-to-day basis, and all housing workers regularly make decisions which impact on the lives of tenants.

Jobs in housing can draw on a wide set of skills and knowledge, and there is no set way of entering the profession. Whilst there are academic housing qualifications that are specifically geared towards the sector, there are also routes into the career utilising experience or qualifications gained in other professions. This is because there are several type of jobs covering a multitude of roles. Many local authorities also have workforce structures in their housing services that give a clear pathway to career enhancement opportunities as experience and qualifications are achieved.

The Chartered Institute of Housing can provide more information. https://www.cih.org/about-membership/membership-benefits/careers