Head of Housing Needs

at  Medway Council

HEAD OF HOUSING NEEDS

Employer: Medway Council
Salary: Service Manager (£58,228 - £69,753) plus special allowance of £5307per annum
Location: Medway Council, Gun Wharf, Dock Road, Chatham, Kent ME4 4TR
Contract: Permanent
Working Pattern: Full Time
Hours: 37 hours per week.
DBS Check: No
Closing Date: 12/05/2024 at 23:59
Reference: REC3102CB
You will have responsibility for delivering an effective, legally compliant and outcome focussed service to Medway’s residents that have a need for intervention or support from the Council in respect of their housing circumstances.

You will oversee the delivery and continued improvement of:

• Homelessness prevention, leading and guiding a team committed to maximising homelessness prevention and relief.
• Temporary Accommodation and the Housing Register, addressing the strategic challenges relating to accommodation provisions and operating a legally compliant allocations scheme.
• Private Sector Housing, shaping the Councils approach to improving the standards of accommodation in the private sector and operation a robust statutory licensing mechanism for HMO’s and park homes.
• Development and ongoing delivery of the Council’s Housing Strategy and Homelessness Prevention and Rough Sleeping activity.
• Commissioning a range of support services that enable residents to live independently
• Leading the Council’s delivery of its Rough Sleeping initiative and wider partnership working.

You will lead on the strategic development and implementation of the Strategic Housing Service.
Be accountable for the delivery of programmes, plans, priorities, and outcomes in a specialist area(s). Monitor and evaluate the progress of delivery plans and their impact on agreed outcomes and indicators. Lead, manage and support project/programme boards, where appropriate. Advise senior management in respect of operational planning, policy matters and service delivery issues.
Accountable for the management of the associated budgets and finances that support the service area.
Ensure the council performs its statutory duties and functions in relation to the specific service area. Advise senior officers on their obligations and duties arising from the statutory/regulatory framework covering their specialist subject, where appropriate.
Develop local, regional and national links to influence and improve the strategic development and delivery of the service area, adopting best practice through benchmarking and networking with other local authorities.
Create, monitor and review frameworks of performance measures and quality standards to be applied in the delivery of services in their area of expertise.
Where appropriate, drive and operate partnership and co-operative working with other agencies/bodies to ensure the effective commissioning and/or delivery of services in their specialist areas.
Initiate and maintain local accountability for outcomes of programmes and plans through the engagement and liaison with a range of internal and external partners and stakeholders, seeking ways to remove obstacles for delivery.
As champion for safeguarding, you will ensure that a culture of protecting vulnerable residents from harm is embedded across your team ensuring appropriate escalation and engagement from other services where needed.

Please refer the Job description for details