Housing Options Manager

The Guildhall Northampton; Northampton; On-site; GBP 51,000 - 55,000; Full time

Job summary

West Northants Council is seeking a dynamic Housing Options Manager to lead a dedicated team in preventing homelessness and delivering sustainable housing options for those in need.

You will oversee Housing Options and Temporary Accommodation services, ensure compliance with housing legislation, and drive improvements through strong leadership, collaboration with partners, and a focus on staff wellbeing and high performance.

Qualifications

• Experience leading housing services and driving service improvements.
• Strong leadership, negotiation and influencing skills.
• Knowledge of housing legislation, local government structures and best practice in service delivery.

Responsibilities

• Lead, manage, and develop the Housing Options and Temporary Accommodation service to ensure high performance and statutory compliance.
• Drive key initiatives to prevent homelessness and improve access to suitable housing options.
• Build partnerships with internal teams, elected members, and external agencies to share responsibility for homelessness prevention.
• Develop and embed performance management, budgeting, and quality assurance across the service.

Skills

Leadership

People management

Negotiation

Budgeting

Strategic planning

Performance management

Job description

We are seeking a dynamic and experienced Housing Options Manager to lead our dedicated team in preventing and relieving homelessness and finding sustainable housing solutions for those in need.

Vacancies

Housing Options Manager

About The Role

We are seeking a dynamic and experienced Housing Options Manager to lead our dedicated team in preventing and relieving homelessness and finding sustainable housing solutions for those in need.

This Is a Key Leadership Position Where You Will

• Lead with Impact: Manage, motivate, and develop a high-performing frontline team, fostering a culture of continuous improvement and excellent customer service.
• Drive Performance: Ensure effective performance management and quality assurance frameworks are imbedded across the service to ensure high performance and outcomes that are meeting the Council’s strategic goals.
• Navigate Complexity: Oversee the assessment of statutory housing duties, utilising your expert knowledge of the Housing Act 1996, the Homelessness Reduction Act 2017, and related case law to ensure legal compliance and fair decision-making.
• Innovate Solutions: Develop and implement innovative initiatives to reduce homelessness, improve the quality and reduce the cost, and increase access to suitable housing options in a challenging market.
• Build Partnerships: Forge strong, collaborative relationships with internal teams, elected members, and external agencies (statutory and voluntary) to make homelessness prevention a shared responsibility.

This role is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and therefore subject to an enhanced DBS certificate. It is also a regulated activity and will be subject to a Children and Adults Barred List check. West Northamptonshire Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and vulnerable adults and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.

This role attracts an additional payment in recognition of the responsibility for oversight and day-to-day management of the Temporary Accommodation Service. Pending completion of the formal evaluation process, an additional payment of £4,500 per annum pro rata will apply.

Interviews will take place on 3rd and 4th November 2026

What will you be doing?

In this role, you will lead, manage, and develop the Housing Options, and Temporary Accommodation service, ensuring the Council remains high-performing, compliant, and effective in meeting statutory housing and homelessness duties. You will drive key initiatives that support the wider housing and homelessness agenda.

Whilst having knowledge of housing and homelessness legislation, policies and case law is advantageous, we are ideally looking for strong leadership skills in order to make sure we deliver a strong and high performing culture, focusing on clearly defined values, open communication, and prioritising employee well-being.

About You

You’re an experienced leader with a strong track record in managing housing services and driving service improvements. You combine excellent leadership, negotiation and influencing skills with the ability to work collaboratively across teams and partners.

You have a deep understanding of housing and homelessness legislation, local government structures, and best practice in service delivery. Skilled in performance management, budgeting, and strategic planning, you thrive in challenging environments and can balance multiple priorities effectively.

Your approach is inclusive, customer-focused, and committed to equality, diversity, and positive cultural change.

Our benefits

You can also see our full list of employee benefits on our careers site here: Why you should work for us | West Northamptonshire Council.

About Us

At West Northants Council, it’s about our people. People who thrive with ambition, bubble with new ideas, demand better ways of working, caring about every detail, and who never shy away from a challenge. Our culture is a gateway for new experiences. A place to forge new opportunities. To empower you in your career and unite you with like-minded people.

Our vision is ‘to make West Northants a great place to live, work, visit and thrive’. We truly stand by this and work hard every day to make this a reality. Our corporate values, THRIVE, stand for: Trust, High Performance, Respect, Innovate and Empower, they underpin everything we do and how we deliver services.

We are committed to ensuring diversity, equality, equity, and inclusion is woven into the fabric of WNC and everything we do, to enable all colleagues to develop and maximize their full potential. We are a disability confident employer, a member of the Armed Forces Covenant, and a Care Leaver Covenant partner

The following film was created by us to communicate our intentions - watch WNC colleagues explain what DEI means to us.

If you need additional support or reasonable adjustments during the application process, including needing the job description in another format or language, please email [e-mail] for support.

Please note we reserve the right to close the advert early if we receive a high volume of suitable applications, so we recommend applying as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.

West Northants Council, where careers thrive.

• Salary £51,224 - £54,605 + £4,500 per annum pro rata
• Salary Frequency Annual
• Working Hours 37
• Job Reference Ref/53/9404
• Contract Type Full Time
• Closing Date 26 October, 2026
• Job Category Housing
• Location Northampton, United Kingdom
• Job Posted Date 30 September, 2026