Lara Berry
SRY
Summary
Strong leader and problem-solver, dedicated to streamlining operations and delivering results. 10 Years of housing management experience, motivating and developing diverse teams. Focused on customer engagement, Stakeholder relationship building and service delivery. With extensive knowledge of Social Housing management and legislation, including ASB, Income management, safeguarding, and resident engagement. Successful background in Policy and Procedure development and implementation.
Overview
11
11
years of professional experience
Work History
Senior Housing Operations Manager
Christian Action Housing
07.2022 - Current
- Reporting to Director of Housing
- Line managing 3 Operations Managers who led a team of 18 Housing, Income and Sheltered officers.
- Developing strategies to improve service delivery across all housing stock.
- Developing and monitoring key performance indicators to quantify performance and achieve objectives.
- Managing the Housing budget efficiently to ensure best financial outcomes. Including procurement of contracts and implementing proactive budgetary changes.
- Drafting performance reports for Board meetings.
- Recruiting and training new Housing staff.
- Developing resident involvement programs to feed into development strategies.
Sheltered Service Team Manager
Octavia Housing
03.2019 - 06.2022
- Reporting to Head of Care and support.
- Line managing Sheltered Housing Officers: Training, mentoring, and developing scheme-based officers.
- Creating service level agreements for third party services: Outlining clear expectations, duties, and procedures to maintain a smooth running of services.
- Negotiating with key stakeholders to maximise access to services for residents: Accessing grants, representing Octavia Housing and its customers in Local Authority led meetings.
- Procuring contracts for sheltered services.
Extra Care Housing Manager
Metropolitan Housing
02.2016 - 03.2019
- Reporting to Operations manager
- Recruiting permanent caretakers and agency staff.
- Working with local Commissioners to ensure full occupancy.
- Line managing 4 caretakers: Creating rotas, managing leave and performance.
- Budget setting and management: analysing data from previous financial years as well as identifying future needs of the service to set adequate budgets for each scheme.
- Providing enhanced housing management for tenants: Supporting residents with tenancy maintenance, benefit applications and rent management.
- Partnership working with care providers.
Tenancy Management Officer
Ealing Borough Council
11.2012 - 02.2016
- Reporting to the Housing Team Manager
- Managing 1500 General Needs and Sheltered tenancies.
- Leading Decant Programs:
- Arranging temporary and permanent decant accommodation.
- General tenancy management duties: Completing Successions, assignments, survivorships, and mutual exchanges.
- Reporting Safeguarding concerns.
- Preparing court documents and attending Court hearings in relation to tenancy breaches.
Education
Bachelor of Science - Social Housing
University of Middlesex
Hendon06.2012
A Levels - English B, French C, Maths C
Northeast Consortium
Dagenham06.2005
GCSE - French A, Science C, English A, IT C, Maths B,
Robert Clack Comprehensive
Dagenham 07.2003
Skills
- Operations Management
- Team Management
- Staff Development
- Contract Negotiation
- Budgeting
- Policy development
- Report writing
- Strategy implementation
Accomplishments
- Led a Housing team of 25 staff members.
- Reduced average void turnaround time from 48 days to 23 by creating a new void process.
- Procured new emergency pull cord monitoring service, saving over £35000 in service charges.
- Significantly reduced high volume of sick leave within Housing team.
- Achieved a significant reduction of staff turnover by introducing a development programme for retirement housing officers.
- Documented and resolved stage 1 complaints with efficiency which led to a reduction in escalations to stage 2.
- Regained possession of over 20 illegally sublet properties.
- Reduced retirement arrears from 7% to 4% within 1 year by implementing an arrears improvement plan.
Affiliations
Current:
- Chartered Institute of Housing
- Association for Retirement Housing managers
Timeline
Senior Housing Operations Manager
Christian Action Housing
07.2022 - Current
Sheltered Service Team Manager
Octavia Housing
03.2019 - 06.2022
Extra Care Housing Manager
Metropolitan Housing
02.2016 - 03.2019
Tenancy Management Officer
Ealing Borough Council
11.2012 - 02.2016
Bachelor of Science - Social Housing
University of Middlesex
A Levels - English B, French C, Maths C
Northeast Consortium
GCSE - French A, Science C, English A, IT C, Maths B,
Robert Clack Comprehensive
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