Head of Housing

This is a new senior management role within our small housing team with the support of the CEO, Trustees, and the small community investment/head office team where you will be based. We are looking for someone resourceful who will enjoy working in a small housing organisation, who is committed to providing high quality housing and support services to our residents.

We want someone to build on our existing systems and continue the process to establish our almshousing as best in class. Being a small organisation it is likely that you will get involved in every level of work that makes up social housing; from meeting residents and their families, support services activities and events, dealing with facilities and grounds maintenance matters, and staff management. However, this is a senior management role which requires strategic thinking, ensuring policies and procedures are in place, managing the trustee’s Housing Committee, and meeting people at all levels, so you will very much play a part in shaping the future of the housing provision for the Charity.

We are looking for someone who has practical knowledge and experience of social housing, ideally within the older person’s/sheltered sector. You should be excited to work in a part of the social housing sector with so many opportunities for the future. You will have worked at a management level in other housing organisations and enjoy and appreciate the special nature of working as part of a small team.

You will be resourceful and know where to obtain information and support which is not easily to hand. You should be self-motivated, come forward with new ideas, be prepared to travel to and from our housing sites, and have an ear for great ideas in older person’s social housing. You will be comfortable developing policies and procedures, writing board reports and presenting to a Housing Committee, networking with peers, as well as rolling up your sleeves to help the housing team overcome a challenge now and then.

United St Saviour’s Charity is a charity with drive and purpose. We are an old charity with origins in the 16th century, but we are also an ambitious charity with a strong board of trustees and a small and dedicated staff team, determined to make Southwark great. We are always looking for ways to improve and expand on what we already do.

We are both a community investment charity and a social housing provider. Our almshouses provide social housing in 75 homes for older people in need from Southwark. We presently manage two almshouses, a modern building in Purley (London Borough of Croydon) and the iconic 18th century Hopton’s almshouse at Bankside SE1. We are ambitious in our housing and are preparing to build in the next year a new 21st century almshouse of 57 homes in Bermondsey SE1.

Our almshouses are much more than sheltered homes and by building up our expertise and resources in older person’s services and activities, we intend to take a front-seat role in helping Southwark become an age-friendly borough, and improve the quality of life for older people living in the neighbourhoods in and around our almshouses.

United St Saviour’s plays an important role in the fabric of Southwark, and we are proud of our strong reputation and relationships. Our historic ties to the Borough Market area continue to this day with our retail and pub property holdings which produces over half our income.