Rural Housing Enabler

New opportunity to make a real difference to rural communities in Berkshire

Could you be our new Rural Housing Enabler?

£30,000 - £32,000 pa, full-time role, 35 hours per week. Fixed-term contract until March 2025.

Rural Housing Enablers (RHEs) work to increase the supply of affordable homes in rural areas for people with a local connection to their community. They support communities to build up evidence of need for affordable housing and use this evidence to help bring about small-scale developments to address local needs. These developments help ensure the vibrancy of rural communities, providing much-needed homes for people growing up or working in these communities and supporting local businesses.

The opportunity

The Berkshire RHE will work in partnership with rural communities, local authorities, Registered Providers and other stakeholders to increase the supply of rural affordable homes. The RHE will join a network of RHEs working across England, with the opportunity to learn from each other and inform the development of local and national policies and strategies.

We are looking for someone with the passion and drive to lead this important project. Our ideal candidate will have a background in housing, understand the current policy background and have a sound appreciation of community development principles. A full job description and person specification can be found on our website; www.ccberks.org.uk/vacancy

Job Purpose:

The Rural Housing Enabler (RHE) is responsible for ensuring rural communities in Berkshire understand the implications of poor housing supply and works with them to provide options for meeting local housing needs. The RHE will identify needs for affordable housing for people with a local connection to a community and will work in partnership to bring about developments to meet these needs. In addition the RHE works closely with partners to give policy advice and guidance, and to promote the project.

Aims of the RHE Project:

1. Achieve an increase in the knowledge of the level, nature and extent of housing needs at a local level, including through undertaking housing needs surveys
2. Increase the number of affordable housing units available for allocation in Berkshire
3. Improve the awareness of housing issues in rural areas and the services available from the Rural housing Enabler project
4. Contribute towards the local, regional and national knowledgebase and policy relating to the provision of rural affordable housing

Main tasks and Responsibilities:

• Raise the profile of affordable Rural Housing and promote the variety of options available to communities by facilitating consideration of affordable housing schemes
• Support, advise and steer communities, including town and parish councillors, from their initial interest in providing affordable housing through scheme inception and pre-development phases to completion Berkshire
• Assist communities to identify the nature and extent of affordable local housing need in their community, including by conducting Housing Needs Surveys
• Work with communities to build and maintain support for schemes, ensuring the community is meaningfully engaged throughout the pre-development process, including during scheme design
• Build collaborative partnerships with key partners and establish a Rural Housing Advisory Forum to steer the project. Partners to include, Local Authorities, Registered Providers and other relevant stakeholders
• Act as an honest broker between the different parties, providing informed and impartial advice
• Create a supportive policy and political environment for rural affordable housing by providing training and advice to key stakeholders. This is likely to include training for local communities, town and parish councillors, local authorities, district councillors, landowners, land agents and Registered Providers
• Work closely with Local Planning Authorities and Local Housing Authority officers to develop policy and strategies and share practical initiatives and good practice to support the delivery of rural affordable housing
• Facilitate the Rural Housing Advisory Forum to effectively unlock local barriers at strategic or scheme level to ensure schemes progress through to completion
• Liaise with other Rural Housing Enablers and Community-led Housing Enablers from other areas to ensure sharing and dissemination of good practice across England
• Take part in Rural Housing discussions and events organised by ACRE (Action with Communities in Rural England)
• Attend and participate as required in all CCB events and staff meetings
• Attend local and national housing and rural-related events and training as relevant to your role
• Contribute to strategies and policies of agencies that have an impact on the availability of affordable housing in rural areas
• Promote examples of good practice in all aspects of local Rural Housing planning and provision

Our ideal candidate will possess many of the qualities outlined in the job description and be motivated to actively pursue opportunities to develop themselves further. This role involves travel around Berkshire, many of the areas will be rural with very limited public transport. A good proportion of your time will be out and about meeting people, so if you are a confident driver with access to your car for business use, this would be an advantage.

To apply for this role, please visit www.ccberks.org.uk and review the Job Description and Person Specification. To apply we request that you send a CV with covering letter (and a Diversity & Inclusion form) describing how your skills, experience, and interests align with the role, to [email protected] or post to Connecting Communities in Berkshire, Wyvols Court, Swallowfield, Berkshire, RG7 1WY by the deadline.

The deadline for applications is Friday 26th January and interviews will take place during the 8th February.

Our benefits:

· 25 days annual leave per year plus public/bank holidays

· Contributory pension scheme

· Free office car parking

· Staff training and development

If you would like an informal chat about the role before applying, please contact Tim Parry from CCB on 0773 888 7611 or email [email protected].