In the second of our series on the working lives of people on the sector's front line, Housing Today spent a day following Sharon Sutherland Brown, a casework officer for Notting Hill Housing Group
Gliding into the room, Sharon Sutherland Brown looks immaculate in her pressed black suit and perfectly groomed hair. "My first case just cancelled on me," she says with a smile. She seems surprisingly unperturbed by this fact as she places her clipboard on the table and pulls up a chair.

Sharon is a casework officer for Notting Hill Housing Group, which manages about 16,000 homes in central and west London. Those who live in the group's properties range in age, experience and background, which means that caseworkers like Sharon need good communication skills to resolve tenant problems such as nuisance behaviour, racial and sexual harassment and domestic violence. She explains: "My role is to sort out problems and act as a mediator, because what you have to remember is that we house lots of different types of people who come from different backgrounds. Some people find it hard to talk to the people that they have a problem with, so part of my job is to find some common ground between them so they can live next door to each other."

Sharon's day begins at 8am, when she arrives at the office and goes through her cases for the day. On this particular day a young woman was supposed to come in and see her because the housing officer dealing with her case had concerns over her suitability to be a Notting Hill tenant. "The woman has been evicted by her local council," says Sharon. "There were problems with rent arrears and noise. There was also a history of domestic violence against her so we wanted her to come in and have a chat, really to make sure that if she rents a place from us she will be given adequate support, and also to make our position on the behaviour of tenants clear to her. Now that she's cancelled we will have to make another appointment for her."

The cancellation means Sharon is free to hop on the bus and take a trip down to the Townmead estate in Fulham, south-west London, to carry out September's maintenance inspection. As she walks up the stairs of Lansbury House, one of the buildings on the estate, a resident shouts: "The lighting isn't working." "You see," replies Sharon as she writes down the complaint, "if she hadn't told me that then that problem could have gone unnoticed for days and it could be very dangerous." As she says this, she checks all the windows and doors to make sure they are secure. She also notices that the communal areas are dirty and makes a note to write to each tenant when she gets back to the office in order to remind them that cleaning communal areas is their responsibility. Finding a damp patch on the wall, this too is noted in her A4 pad.

As she leaves, she sees a trolley from the Sainsbury's next door that has somehow found its way into a resident's garden – another note is made, this time it is to remind her to tell the supermarket that people are taking their trolleys.

Walking round she meets a pensioner named Val, who is also chair of the local tenants' committee. Leaning on the gate, the two women discuss the need to make the estate's play area bigger because the older children are taking over ground and the younger ones are unable to use seesaws and climbing frames because they are being pushed out. "I'm working on trying to sort something out for the kids," Sharon remarks. "The problem is that we have certain regulations that we have to stick to in terms of the size of the play area, so it's not a simple matter of just being able to expand it. But I'll see what I can do."

I love the vibe of it, I love helping people to help themselves and I love the fact that every day is different. I joined housing because I wanted to make a difference

A small matter of an abandoned car is also playing on her mind. The car has been on the estate for several weeks now and she contacted the police to have it removed. They, in turn, are investigating whom it belongs to. Sadly, in this case it transpires that a homeless man was using it as his temporary home, but now the police inquiries have forced him to leave. The man is a familiar face to the residents of Townmead, and Sharon is concerned by his absence.

The visit to Val's is the last of the day and after hopping back on the bus, Sharon grabs some lunch and then sits down to type up her notes and observations and get on to the repairs and maintenance team to fix the lights and damp on the estate. After an afternoon of typing, answering correspondence and making phone calls, her day wraps up at about 6.30pm.

Sharon admits that at times the job can be difficult and challenging. "You have to remember that you're dealing with people who are angry or unhappy about something," she explains. "And they can take it out on you, but you have to calm them down, and make them understand that you are here to listen to them and help. As soon as they realise that, they relax – it's just frustration."

In spite of recent calls for landlords' powers to be increased when dealing with antisocial behaviour – including the then-DTLR's consultation document Tackling Antisocial Behaviour, published in April – Sharon doesn't have a strong opinion about the government's policy on antisocial behaviour or noise control. As far as she is concerned, it is her job to implement what the politicians think is good for the country. As she put it: "There are procedures for a reason and we work with it so we can provide the best deal for tenants."

Remarking on her attraction to the job, she says: "I love the vibe of it, I love helping people to help themselves and I love the fact that everyday is different. I left my job in customer services at Boots Opticians and joined a housing group because I wanted to really make a difference and help people who needed support."

On the day Housing Today met Sharon:

8am: Arrive at work and go through cases. Discuss any potential problems with managers or colleagues. 10am: Go on estate visit to check maintenance is up to date and check communal areas are being properly looked after. 12pm: Type up notes from visit. 1pm: Take a lunch break, get out of the office for an hour. 2pm: Contact repairs and maintenance teams to report problems with windows and damp patches, while going through case files. 3pm: Contact police to get update on abandoned car and go through any appointments for next day. Finish work at around 6.30pm

Details

Name Sharon Sutherland Brown
Age 30
Salary £20,000
Job Casework officer for Notting Hill Housing Group
Hours Vary, on average from 8am to 6.30 or 7pm
Years in job One year
Route to job Worked for Boots Opticians in customer service department for several years before deciding to enter social housing. In 1997, she joined Notting Hill as a customer service officer, then moved to the role of housing adviser in 1999 and this year she became a caseworker.