Affordable Housing Enabling Officer

Adur & Worthing Councils; England; On-site; GBP 41,000 - 45,000; Full time

Job summary

A local council is seeking an Affordable Housing Enabling Officer to facilitate affordable housing delivery in the community. The role involves engaging with various stakeholders, supporting planning processes, and requires a degree or relevant experience in housing or development.

Benefits

Generous leave entitlement

Local Government Pension

Training & development

Occupational Health

Employee Assistance Programme

Flexible working options

Qualifications

• Degree in relevant discipline or proven experience in affordable housing delivery.
• Experience in housing, planning, or development.
• Experience of Section 106 negotiations.

Responsibilities

• Engage with housing providers and developers to deliver affordable housing.
• Support the planning application process and identify barriers.
• Develop relationships with Registered Providers.

Skills

Engagement with housing providers

Planning application support

Negotiation skills

Knowledge of affordable housing

IT literacy

Education

Degree in an appropriate discipline

Job description

Affordable Housing Enabling Officer

Post Number: TBC

Salary: Starting from £41,511 to 44,711 per annum

Grade: Grade 7

Hours: 37 hours per week

Place of Work: Worthing Town Hall

Closing Date: 3rd June 2025

Interviews: TBC

Join us to drive affordable housing delivery, by working with developers, housing associations, and local communities to meet housing needs.

We’re looking to recruit an Affordable Housing Enabling Officer, based in the Planning Policy & Specialists Team.

You will support the Regenerative Development and the Housing directorates to enable and optimise the delivery of affordable housing to meet the needs of communities across Adur District and Worthing Borough Councils. Bringing together your knowledge of housing, planning and viability, you will provide a key link between Registered Providers and the Council and between Housing and Planning services in relation to affordable housing delivery through the planning and asset process.

In this role, you will:

• Proactively and effectively engage with housing providers, developers, funders and landowners to facilitate the delivering of affordable housing to meet local needs.
• Support the effective delivery of the planning application process, including identifying barriers to delivering affordable housing and solutions to overcome these.
• Develop effective working relationships with Registered Providers and other affordable housing providers.

The successful candidate will need to have:

• a degree in an appropriate discipline or relevant proven experience in delivering affordable housing in the public or private sectors.
• experience of working in the field of housing, planning or development.
• experience of Section 106 negotiations, preferably for the delivery of affordable housing.
• experience of working in partnership with other organisations.
• good knowledge of the Government’s requirements for the provision and development of affordable housing and an understanding of Registered Social Landlord (RSL)/Housing Association activity and procedures.
• a detailed understanding of the strategic housing role of local authorities.

You will also need to be adaptable and IT literate as the Council extensively uses digital platforms to provide its services.

If this sounds like the role for you, we look forward to receiving your application!

For an informal discussion about this role, please contact:

Moira Hayes (Tel:[phone]), Stephen Cantwell (Tel:[phone]) or

Rob Jarvis ([e-mail]).

At Adur & Worthing, we are committed to supporting care leavers, in accordance with the Children (Leaving Care) Act 2000 and the Children and Social Work Act 2017. To that end, we operate a guaranteed interview scheme for anyone meeting the essential criteria of the role they are applying for. In order to be considered for this, you will need to be a care leaver under the age of 25 at the time of application. Please confirm that you are a care leaver in the "Showing how you meet the person specification and job description" section of the application form.

As a Disability Confident employer, we will ensure that a fair and proportionate number of applicants declaring a disability, that meet the essential criteria for this position, will be offered an interview.

Staff are our most important asset and we therefore have a benefit package which reflects our continuing commitment to our employees. This includes:

• Generous leave entitlement; a minimum of 26 days + Bank Holiday entitlement
• Local Government Pension
• Training & development
• Occupational Health
• Employee Assistance Programme (EAP)
• Employee resource groups/networks
• Buddy Support Programme
• Flexible working options

We are committed to promoting a diverse and inclusive community - a place where we can all be ourselves and succeed on merit. Staff work in a supportive and safe environment, recognising their responsibility to value and respect each other’s contributions. Standards of conduct must be of the highest level to ensure that no-one is harassed, bullied or victimised. We offer a range of family friendly, inclusive employment policies, staff engagement forums and are keen to hear from applicants from a variety of different backgrounds.