Strategic Housing and Commissioning Manager

Reporting to the Assistant Director: Homes & Communities, within the Place Directorate,this role is responsible for managing the Council's Housing Strategy, Clienting andCommissioning Service. It ensures the right homes are built in the right places, and thatthe Council's delivery and management of homes creates thriving and sustainablecommunities across Shropshire., As the Strategic Housing and Commissioning Manager, you will support the delivery ofthe services transformation in line with the Council's Digital Transformation Programmeand other corporate change and improvement programmes.This role is responsible for managing the Council's Housing Strategy and Commissioningactivities. It ensures the right homes are built in the right places, to create thrivingsustainable communities across Shropshire.You will lead a team of officers responsible for the development of housing strategy andpolicy, the enabling and monitoring of housing delivery, and the performance monitoringof the Council's housing companies delivering market housing development and housingmanagement services for the Housing Revenue Account.Who will your manager be and what will you be responsible for?You will be:

• reporting to the Assistant Director Homes & Communities, who is in turn responsible
for your health and safety, training and development.
• responsible and accountable for circa 6 FTE members of staff, acting in a
supervisory/managerial capacity, monitoring performance, supporting development and undertaking annual appraisals.
• Accountable for housing delivery by providing oversight of the Council's two major
housing development programmes. Currently this equates to over £80m investment by Cornovii Developments Limited (CDL) and by the HRA through Shropshire Towns and Rural (STAR) Housing, over the next five years.
• responsible for monitoring, liaison and interfacing with Cornovii Developments
Limited (CDL), the Council's Local Housing Company; and Shropshire Towns and Rural (STAR) Housing, the Council's Arm's length Management Organisation, which manages the Authority's 4,100 housing stock.
• responsible for monitoring the Council's Housing Revenue Account (HRA) in
which the Council's housing revenue (£18m annual tenants' rent) and housing costs (including property management and maintenance) are kept. It includes responsibility for Right to Buy receipts and sale, and purchase of land and property.
• responsible for oversight of an approximate budget of £100m in the form of the HRA
and Cornovii budgets.
• expected to lead and/or contribute to a range of projects and build relations with
both internal and external partners in order achieve specified outcomes but will not have direct authority over those involved.
• Responsible for preparing responses in line with Shropshire Council's corporate
processes and national/regulatory/statutory processes (e.g., complaints, MP enquiries, customer enquiries, media enquiries, HR staff investigations, etc.). These responses should meet quality and timescale expectations set out within Shropshire Council's published procedures and/or case allocation emails and discussions.
• Responsible for completing within expected timescales all mandatory corporate and
role specific training. Training requirements will be detailed in your corporate induction and Personal Development Plan (PDP). Courses are accessed via the council Learning Management System via the Intranet.What will you be doing?
• Drive the Housing Strategy and coordinate delivery of the Action Plan, preparing,
implementing, monitoring, and reviewing Housing and other related Strategies.
• Develop links and work with external housing partners, agencies and local
communities in the development, monitoring and review of strategies, plans and ensure delivery of the Shropshire's housing priorities.
• Shape plans and opportunities to commercialise and reinvest in Council Services,
including making savings.
• Lead the Council's relationship with Registered Providers to ensure that they have
a full appreciation of the Council's priorities and match our aspirations
• Work with Adults and Children's Services to specify and support delivery of priority
accommodation needs, including older people's housing, supported housing, and care leavers accommodation, in support of those service areas.
• Assist the AD for Homes and Communities to put appropriate funding and
partnership structures in place to maximise delivery of the Council's housing priorities and investment plans.
• Drive social value in the delivery of housing services, to support the local economy
whilst creating new jobs, skills, qualifications, and apprenticeships
• Lead on identifying the need and commissioning of the schemes that will form the
development programmes with planned investment over the next 5 years from Cornovii Developments Limited and STaR Housing.
• Support the Housing Executive Board, which oversees the governance and
management of housing related officer activity, groups and project teams across the Council, ensuring a joined-up dynamic strategic direction and leadership.
• Lead the review and development of housing need and development programmes
across the County to improve the quality of life for residents and ensure the strategic management of the authority's housing stock is optimized.
• Be responsible for the operation and support for the Housing Supervisory Board,
which represents Shropshire Council as Company Shareholder for CDL.
• Be responsible for operation of the Asset Assurance Board, which oversees and
monitors performance of STaR Housing, the Council's Arm's Length Management Organisation.
• Be responsible for the monitoring and administration of the Housing Revenue
Account which includes annual rents in excess of £18m.
• Identify the need and commission the developments that will form the
development programmes with planned investment over the next 5 years from Cornovii Developments Limited and STaR Housing at a value in excess of £80m.
• Monitor the governance arrangements of STaR Housing to safeguard the interests
of the Council, reviewing the STaR Housing Management agreement to ensure it is up to date, reflects best practice, Council polices and processes, and changes in legislation.
• Contribute to the delivery of The Shropshire Plan and wider strategies and plans to
meet the services' corporate obligations.
• Develop relationships with neighbouring authorities and identify joint areas of
collaboration for housing and development.
• Represent Shropshire Council at national and regional level as appropriate on
matters relating to housing strategy.
• Develop sound, effective and innovative business plans in order to increase
revenue income streams, explore potential external funding opportunities and attract capital investment into the Council and its companies.
• Work with STaR Housing management team and Board on the development of
their delivery plans in support of Council priorities and monitoring their delivery.
• Develop and monitor the risk register for the Council's relationship with STaR
Housing and lead audits and health checks on specific areas as required.
• Be responsible for administering Right to Buy authorisations, receipts, and
expenditure.
• Monitoring the regulatory and governance environment relating to the social
housing sector to identify new requirements, emerging risks and opportunities and good practice guidance.
• Performance Monitoring of CDL and its delivery against its Business Plan.
• Manage the Council's relationship with CDL in its role as shareholder, funder,
planning authority, landowner disposing of sites, and any other links.
• Support discussions with CDL regarding expansion of its activity into new areas of
operation and securing Council authorities and approvals where appropriate.
• Monitor the governance arrangements of CDL to safeguard the interests of the
Council.
• Liaise with finance on financial monitoring to ensure the Shareholder Agreement
terms are appropriately applied.
• Promote and encourage new homes built to be low-carbon, energy and water
efficient, and resilient to climate change, to set an example of best practice to support Shropshire Council's objective of becoming carbon net zero by 2030.
• Act as key point of contact and engage with partners such as Government
Departments, National Advisory and Legislative Organisations, e.g., Homes England and the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government on housing matters.The above duties are an illustrative outline and are not an exhaustive list. You will beexpected to become involved in a range of work to enable the service to respond effectivelyto the changing requirements of the Council and changes affecting the workforce.What we expect of youYou will:
• adopt a customer focused approach when delivering your service, ensuring
engagement with service users and maintenance of an appropriate personal profile,
• act as an advocate for your service and work collaboratively with colleagues across
the whole Council to meet the needs of the people of Shropshire,
• meet individual, service and personal development targets agreed through the
Personal Development Review Process, learn from experience and are committed to continuous improvement individually and as an employee of the Council,
• work with colleagues to meet your team's key performance indicators, support a
culture of team working and ensure the team functions successfully in support of the Council's corporate and service objectives.
• meet the behaviours and competencies adopted by the Council in the way in which
they achieve their objectives and carry out their work.
• Expected to undertake all relevant training requirements specifically to the role
including formal Hearing / Investigating Officer training relating to Disciplinary / Grievance policies and procedures.What are your conditions of ServiceThe conditions of service are those laid down by Shropshire Council, which have beenadopted and amended as necessary from those laid down by the National Joint Councilfor Local Government Services.

As Shropshire Council we are rightly proud of our achievements and we have proven tobe a resilient local authority in our response to the many challenges we overcome,particularly over recent years. We will be continuing this momentum with ambition and afocus on delivering our four key priorities outlined within the Shropshire Plan: HealthyPeople, Healthy Environment, Health Economy and Healthy Organisation.We are committed to achieving this by aligning everything we do to our vision 'Shropshire- living the best life'; to tell everyone that Shropshire Council is a great place to be.We will enable a skilled, happy, healthy, diverse, inclusive, empowered, and proudworkforce that influences and leads change, addressing any inequalities.As a member of the Strategic Housing and Commissioning Team within Homes andCommunities, you will support the achievement of these key priorities, making a realdifference to the lives of people in Shropshire.


• The post is Permanent for 37 hours per week,
• Normal office hours are 7am - 7pm Monday - Friday and 8am - 1pm Saturday
with a minimum lunch break of 30 minutes. Occasional evening work may be required,
• The post is subject to the Council's annualised hours scheme as implemented
within the specific work area.This post carries eligibility to join the Local Government Pension Scheme. Informationabout this will be sent with any formal offer of appointment.Annual leave entitlement is a pro rata flat rate scheme of 207 hours (28 days) annualleave plus bank holidays, with five days extra awarded to those staff with five years localgovernment service giving an entitlement of 244 hours (33 days). Two days of anemployee's allowance (pro rota for part time staff) must be taken at Christmas for anypotential Christmas closures. Employees who work in a building/service which is requiredto open over the Christmas period, the two days leave (pro rota) can be carried over intoyour next leave year but must be used by the end of March.The appointment is subject to three months' notice in writing on either side.The appointment is subject to six months' satisfactory probationary service during whichtime the notice period will be one week on either side.Smoking is not allowed in Council buildings, in Council vehicles or in any Council place ofwork.It is a condition of your appointment that you provide a suitable vehicle for the performanceof your duties and that this is readily available for use during normal working hours. Youare entitled to claim for reimbursement of the costs of travel on council business at the rateof 45 pence per mile.What pre-employment checks will we undertake?The appointment is subject to receipt of the following pre-employment checks; 1. Satisfactory employment references, 2. Medical report, 3. Evidence of the qualifications required for the post/listed on your application form