Homelessness Adviser

**Details**:
**Reference number**:

- 260960**Salary**:

- £49,697- The posts can be offered as a secondment on existing salary, or as a fixed term agreement within the salary ranges £48197 - £57,362 (National) and £53,132 - £62,477 (London) depending on location and experience. For existing civil servants, standard terms and conditions on lateral transfer and promotion will apply**Job grade**:

- Grade 7**Contract type**:

- Fixed Term
- Secondment**Length of employment**:

- 2 years**Business area**:

- Homelessness & Rough Sleeping**Type of role**:

- Other**Working pattern**:

- Flexible working, Full-time, Job share, Part-time**Number of jobs available**:

- 1Contents

Location

About the job

**Benefits**:
Things you need to know

Location
- Birkenhead, Birmingham, Bristol, Cambridge, Hastings, Hemel Hempstead, Leeds, London, Manchester, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Nottingham, Sheffield, Warrington, WolverhamptonAbout the job

**Job summary**:
The job of the Department of Levelling Up Housing and Communities is to create great places to live and work, and to give more power to local people to shape what happens in their area.

The Government has committed to eliminating rough sleeping in the term of this parliament, and to fully enforce the Homelessness Reduction Act. This is an exciting time to join a high-profile team and provides a great opportunity for excellent individuals to work collaboratively across sectors and help influence the shape of homelessness service delivery, and make a real difference to thousands of lives.

The Homelessness Reduction Act came into force in April 2018 and significantly reformed England’s homelessness legislation by placing duties on local authorities to intervene earlier to prevent homelessness in their areas. An early review of the implementation of the Act carried out during 2019-20 found that much had been achieved by local authorities and partners to improve services to prevent homelessness, but there is much still to do.

The Homelessness Advice and Support Team (HAST) provides advice and guidance to local areas implementing the HRA, and the team has continued to work closely with local authorities on delivery of the new duties, improving homeless services and performance. HAST advisers also work alongside the Rough Sleeping Initiative team to support local areas to reduce rough sleeping, and are working with local areas on the Rough Sleeping Accommodation Programme to increase the supply of safe and suitable housing for people moving on from rough sleeping.

We are now recruiting for a new adviser to join the HAST team. The role is offered as a secondment opportunity (on existing salary) or as a fixed term contract. We are looking to recruit an adviser able to work with local authorities in the north of the country, or in London.

**Job description**:
The roles involve:

- Visiting and working with local authorities across England, providing advice, support and challenge that is relevant to local context and issues
- Supporting work to embed the Homelessness Reduction Act, including helping local authorities build a preventative problem solving culture and deliver results for single homeless people.
- Working with local authorities to deliver the government’s target to end rough sleeping, including providing support with bids for the Rough Sleepers Accommodation Programme and other DLUHC funding, and holding authorities to account for delivery
- Supporting local authorities to develop their homelessness strategies and governance, and to collaborate effectively with partners to prevent homelessness
- Providing targeted challenge and support to help local areas to improve practice and performance
- Supporting the development and sharing of effective practice.
- Supporting implementation of improved data collection, as well as learning from experience around the country to inform on-going policy development
- Delivering presentations, workshops and events, disseminating good practice information and advice
- Effective recording and sharing of key information to support programme management and policy development

**Person specification**:

- An expert and leader in the field of homelessness, with an understanding of the factors which contribute to individuals and families becoming homeless and a proven track record in developing and delivering services which effectively prevent homelessness and support vulnerable people.
- Comprehensive knowledge and understanding of legislation, policy and practice relating to homelessness in England.
- Excellent knowledge and understanding of local government, key partners and stakeholders, their roles and interests, and the operational and political context in which services are provided to people at risk of homelessness.
- Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, including ability to motivate and inspire individuals and groups and to support the development of partnerships around shared commitments to improve outc