The following job is no longer available:
Affordable Housing Officer

Affordable Housing Officer

Posted 8 April by South Oxfordshire District Council
Ended
Affordable Housing Officer

Location: The designated office base is Abbey House, Abingdon. The councils operate in a truly flexible, and hybrid way where the focus is on outcomes not where you work.
Salary and grade: Grade 6 £39,977 up to £45,568
Duration of role: Permanent
Hours per week: 37

Closing date: 26 April 2024

About the role and what we’re looking for

Job purpose

South Oxfordshire and Vale of the White Horse are thrilled to present this exciting opportunity to join our Affordable Housing Team. As an Affordable Housing Officer, you will play a pivotal role in promoting and championing self-build and custom housebuilding, facilitating the supply of homes in our districts.

The Officer will develop and build the Community Led Housing Policy and Process and promote the successful implementation to schemes to promote the delivery of Affordable Housing working.

The Officer will act as lead with Community Led schemes, working with the Collaborative Housing (COHO) Hub to positively identify and support development in South Oxfordshire and Vale of White Horse districts.

The Officer will act as expert on retrofit of existing housing stock and plans for zero / reduced carbon delivery of new affordable homes.

The post sits in the Council’s Housing Delivery Team.

Main duties and responsibilities

• Keeping abreast of national policy, guidance and good practice on self-build and custom-housebuilding and providing specialist briefings to Members and Officers
• Managing, monitoring and publicising the Self-Build Register including establishing and assessing local connection, financial capability criteria and fee-charging, and ensuring it is a robust evidence base
• Answering queries and responding to planning consultations which deal with Self Build, custom build.
• Providing expert advice to the development management team on planning applications and, on occasion, assisting with planning appeals. This may include;
• Negotiating self-build requirements under planning policy, including location of serviced plots, phasing, access arrangements, timescales for delivery, any affordable self-build, calculating and negotiating any financial contributions, and drafting and enforcing S106 Agreements
• Working with colleagues to positively identify suitable Council sites to take forward as self-build projects with a solution driven approach.
• Promoting affordable self-build schemes, including building relationships with Registered Provider partners
• Supporting self-build proposals on private sites
• Contribute to the policy and procedures to streamline Community Led Housing Schemes.
• Oversee Community Led Housing schemes, providing support and assistance to effectively deliver affordable housing and ensure continuous improvement of schemes.
• Cultivate relationships with external partners such as Community Land Trusts, co-housing, co-operatives), and help them move towards their ambitions to create the homes their communities need.
• Supporting colleagues with monitoring delivery of self-build planning approvals and completed units.
• Assist with grant applications for s106 funds to contribute Affordable Housing development.
• The duties may vary from time to time without changing the nature of the post or the level of responsibility and the post holder may also be required to carry out any other duties appropriate to the grading of the post.

About you

Your essential skills, knowledge and experience

• Previous experience of working as a housing or planning professional, in the construction industry or social housing sector will be an advantage.
• We expect you to be aware of the different types of community-led housing, the five stages of development and the range of needs of groups and schemes at each stage.
• It will be an advantage (though not a requirement) to be an accredited community-led housing advisor or have undertaken the national CLH Advisor course.
• We will expect you to have proven track record of administering projects, supporting local groups, and of keeping good records and managing information retrieval systems.

Your essential qualifications

• Degree or equivalent specialist qualification and/or experience within a specialist field such as Planning or Housing.

Work related requirements:

This role has been identified as public facing in accordance with Part 7 of the Immigration Act 2017; the requirement to fulfil all spoken aspects of the role with confidence in English applies.

The benefits we offer

• A basic 25 days annual leave per annum, rising to 30 days after five years. You also have all the bank holidays to look forward to and time off between Christmas and New Year.
• Flexible working and annualised hours – a flexible approach to work that our employees love!
• Salary pay awards – most jobs give scope for a pay increase after six months or the following April (depending on your start date) and we also review salaries each April.
• A generous career average pension scheme which includes life insurance of three times your salary
• The opportunity to purchase a bike through Cyclescheme (cheaper than directly through a store) so that you can cycle to work!
• Various schemes to keep you healthy (reduced gym membership, free swims, free eye tests for DSE users and more)
• We give you two days per year to volunteer within the local community.
• A range of resources, support, and activities to help you maintain your wellbeing including a monthly wellbeing hour in addition to annualised hours (the ability to work flexibly as long as, over the course of the year, you complete your contracted hours) and annual leave.

We look forward to hearing from you.

You may also have experience in the following: Housing Services Coordinator, Housing Officer, Housing Administrator, Housing Coordinator, Tenancy Support Officer, Customer Service Officer, Affordable Housing Manager, Home Delivery Officer etc.

REF-212 919

Reference: 52436230

Please note Reed.co.uk does not communicate with candidates via Whatsapp, and we will never ask you to provide your bank, passport or driving licence details during the application process. To stay safe in your job search and flexible work, we recommend visiting JobsAware, a non-profit, joint industry and law enforcement organisation working to combat labour market abuse. Visit the JobsAware website for information and free expert advice for safer work.

Report this job