Supply & Acquisitions Officer

Job Introduction

Do you believe that everyone deserves a safe and stable place to call home?

We’re seeking an enthusiastic and dedicated person to join our Housing Solutions Team as a Supply and Acquisitions Officer, supporting those facing homelessness in Milton Keynes.

It’s a great time to join the team as we work with private landlords to grow our property portfolio.

You’ll need excellent negotiation skills and ideally have a background in social housing or in sales and lettings. You’ll be kept busy completing property visits, negotiating with landlords and promoting our landlord incentive scheme. You’ll be responsible for ensuring local properties meet the Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS) and are inspected, suitable and affordable. You’ll also help to manage empty units so they’re turned around fast for new tenants to move into.

This role is pivotal in managing properties for Milton Keynes City Council so understanding tenancies, homelessness and HHSRS is beneficial. You’ll work with a wide range of stakeholders, colleagues, and landlords.

Regular travel to property and site will be required so a valid UK licence and access to a car is essential.

Main Responsibility

• To complete property inspections to Housing Health and Safety Rating standards and inspect units procured by MKCC 

• To achieve targets to procure properties in the private rented sector for the council to use for temporary accommodation, homelessness prevention, or discharging a housing duty and reducing the use of temporary accommodation 

• To be responsible for the contract management and property management of Temporary Accommodation units 

• To identify cost effective opportunities to acquire accommodation in the private rented sector, considering the cost to the council, welfare benefit legislation and the private sector rental market 

​

The Ideal Candidate

• You will be an excellent communicator and will thrive in a fast-paced environment where you will need to manage working to tight deadlines. If you are good at using your initiative and are a great problem solver, we want to hear from you 

• Our service is customer centric, and you must have demonstrable experience of building strong relationships with customers and stakeholders and to be able to communicate at all levels. 

• As a pressurised area of business, you will be required to manage several different tasks each day and as such you will be able to effectively prioritise work quickly, have good time management skills and have excellent communication and written skills 

• You will need to be highly adaptable, approachable and be able to build relationships quickly, providing an empathetic and non-judgmental service to customers. You will need excellent IT skills and a broad knowledge and understanding of the service area including legislation, systems, welfare benefits and policies. 

• Experience of utilising the Housing Health and Safety Rating System 

• A thorough understanding of current issues affecting social housing, private housing provision and property procurement 

• For this role you are required to have a Full UK Driving Licence and provide evidence of your Vehicle Insurance with Business cover and use of a vehicle . If you are successful, you will be required to supply evidence of your Licence prior to starting the role

• Should you be offered the role, as part of the pre-employment checks a Basic DBS will be actioned for you

Package Description

In addition to your salary, we offer a range of benefits including:

• Great holiday benefits - most roles include 28 days annual leave every year on top of public (bank) holidays, increasing to 32 days after five years.  In addition, there is a holiday purchase scheme allowing staff to purchase up to 5 additional days of leave each year.

• Excellent pension – everyone who works for us can join the national Local Government Pension Scheme, widely regarded as one of the best available.

• A full range of family friendly policies including enhanced maternity, adoption and paternity support and a childcare subsidy.

• Access to an award-winning employee benefits programme that includes a health cash plan, a low-cost bike purchase scheme as well as high street discounts and money off entertainment and travel.

• Blue Light Card - employees working within social care can qualify for an additional range of discounts from national retailers and local businesses.

Our roles are either designated ‘site based’ or ‘home based’. ‘Site based’ roles can include up to two days a week working from home whilst ‘home based’ roles are based at home four days a week.  Of course, managers designate which category roles are in based on the needs of the service and the circumstances.

About The Organisation

Milton Keynes City Council is a large, modern and financially stable employer with around 2,500 people working across our eight areas. Together we provide local residents and businesses with a wide range of important round-the-clock services and aim to make our city a better place to live.

We work hard because of the demands placed on us, like protecting children from harm or preventing homelessness. However, working for the city is always rewarding and everyone has the opportunity to make a real difference. 

We’re very proud of our diversity and are committed to having a workforce that reflects the community we serve. Whatever your background, you will be welcome here if you share our values of being dedicated, respectful and collaborative.

We offer great training and support and because of the size and scale of the organisation there are always new opportunities to explore when it’s time for a new role.

If you’d like to know more about how we do things and what matters to us, take a look at our short booklet What makes us Milton Keynes City Council.