About the Borough This special place in South West London between the capital and the country has been a Royal borough longer than anywhere else - it is where the first kings of England were crowned. Today it is a vibrant and diverse borough, with a long history and strong cultural and community heritage. Kingston's riverside location, fantastic retail offer, historic market place and church, parks and gardens all make Kingston town centre the vibrant space it is, and each of our district town centres (Surbiton, New Malden, Tolworth and Chessington) have something unique to offer. Situated in Zone 6, Kingston is among the best-connected town centres in London – with direct train links from Kingston and Surbiton stations to Clapham Junction and London Waterloo, as well as Wimbledon for an interchange with the London Underground and Tramlink. Kingston’s people are innovative and entrepreneurial, and have a strong sense of community pride. The borough has been home to great industry and creativity for many years, reflected in assets such as the Rose Theatre, the International Youth Arts Festival and Kingston University, which boasts more new graduate business start-ups than any other. We have seen tremendous generosity and compassion within our communities, particularly in response to COVID-19, which is a demonstration of Kingston’s key strength. The council offers a strong level of support to vulnerable groups and those who need additional support, which has also increased significantly as a result of the pandemic. Like most places, the average age of our population is rising as more people are living longer, so we are working closely with residents to help them maintain their independence and further improve the cost effectiveness of our service to meet the ongoing rise in demand. Kingston is home to people from diverse and interesting cultures and backgrounds, which helps to create the rich sense of community shared across the borough. In particular, Kingston has a large Sri Lankan Tamil community and is home to more people from Korea than any other part of the UK. About the Role As a senior member of our newly transformed Community Housing Service, you’ll be leading the Housing Solutions & Support Services to reduce homelessness and rough sleeping in the Borough. This is an exciting opportunity to shape a new service to increase homelessness prevention outcomes and provide motivation to your large multiple disciplinary team to deliver high quality outcomes. You will provide leadership and direction to the service and develop an organisational culture which is positive, performance-driven and customer-focused and in which staff are valued and empowered to embrace change and innovation. About Us The Community Housing Service helps people secure and keep accommodation and avert crisis. We provide a range of housing and homelessness prevention support across Kingston. This is an exciting time to join us, we are transforming the service with a focus on a resilient and efficient service that prevents homelessness and puts customers at its heart. About You You will have: Knowledge and understanding of legislation, policy, procedures and practices in homelessness and rough sleeping and support services. Proven track record of delivering complex change projects that deliver real service improvement and cost reduction. Understanding of contract management and performance monitoring Ability manage and motivate staff performance to achieve excellent outcomes Proven track record of developing and leading collaborative partnerships with stakeholders in the public, private and voluntary and community sectors Experience of managing complex budgets Ability to develop coherent strategies and programmes of work, including those involving external partners.