Affordable Housing Enabling Officer

The role will report directly to the Head of Housing Supply. There may be opportunities for line management for the Housing Supply Enabling Officer in time.

The primary purpose of this role is to lead the effective delivery of services that maximise the supply of social and affordable housing through the planning system and the strategic use of council resources. The postholder will have responsibility for housing delivery within the Local Planning Authority area, principally in Portsmouth, while also supporting delivery in neighbouring authorities where service level agreements apply, and within emerging combined authority areas as required.

The role will independently manage key housing needs relating to social and affordable housing. It will act as a central link between the council’s Local Planning Authority and external specialists, such as viability consultants, providing advice on the level, type and suitability of affordable housing needed. The postholder will ensure that opportunities for delivering social and affordable housing, either on site or through financial contributions, are fully maximised. Strong relationships and communication skills will be used to encourage partnership working and reduce affordable housing sites becoming stalled. Where appropriate, this could include appraising the viability and suitability for the council to acquire section 106 housing to unlock delivery and meet its housing needs.


Skills:

The role requires experience and knowledge of:

• Microsoft Office (Outlook, Teams, Powerpoint, Word (intermediate - mail merge, use of styles, references etc, Excel (Intermediate- trackers, Pivot tables, graphs, basic formulas, LOOKUPs, conditional formatting).
• Sharepoint - file management systems, One Note, Power BI (optional), whiteboard, CoPilot
• Substantial experience in housing or property related role with experience in a section 106 affordable housing role or comparable experience preferably with a local authority or registered provider.
• Experience of assessing Section 106 affordable housing contributions via on site delivery or financial contributions and undertaking complex negotiations over terms and legal agreements.
• Experience of managing, monitoring and collecting s106 affordable housing financial contributions and liability dates and conditions.
• Evidence of congoing CPD.
• Desirable - Housing or property or planning related qualification.
• Essential - knowledge and experience of Land Registry, planning portal, hosted property information systems (Land Insight, gov. databases etc) property agency websites, Homes England clearing system.
• Understanding and working experience of Planning legislation at local and national level, housing legalisation including allocations, homelessness and temporary accommodation provision.
• Knowledge and experience of acquisition process specific to the disposal or acquisition of section 106 affordable housing between developers and registered providers.
• Knowledge and understanding of key housing initiatives, planning requirements and appropriate grant funding requirements.
• Awareness of heads of terms and key details to be negotiated in a S106 agreement or acquisition/disposal.
• Knowledge or what the key inputs are in a financial appraisal for assessing section 106 bids received by a developer or to prepare a purchase price.
• Knowledge of data needed to track and monitor performance of section 106 and affordable housing delivery.
• Experience of preparing advisory reports and presentations, collating complex sources of property information and communicating data to a senior management and leadership team.
• The role requires proficiency in many in-house IS and database systems including Microsoft Office, HNAS database, Northgate, GIS, Repairs & Maintenance database and Land Registry.
• Project management and organisational skills to deliver key objectives
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills for stakeholder engagement and establishing relationships with property owners/developers/agents etc.
• Work proactively, remain motivated, works on own initiative in coordinating multiple tasks with ability to work to deadlines with frequent task switching and competing priorities.
• Valid driving licence.