Strategic Housing Specialist Fosse Way (Ref: 21700)

Job summary

Please refer to Job Description

Job description

Overview of the job

This is a permanent, non-operational role with no prisoner case-level responsibilities.

The role will sit within Prison Group Director (PGD) management structures, however, a heavy focus on and presence in establishments will be required (usually within a cluster of prisons depending on complexity and demand at each establishment and local housing landscape) with the expectation that post holders will travel as and when required. Due to the pan region focus of some roles this may include travel to prisons releasing into the area.

There are no line management responsibilities as part of this role, and we do not expect the post holder to have operational experience, although this may be advantageous when working within the establishment.

Summary

The post holder could be responsible for several prisons, splitting their time flexibly between the prisons in their portfolio. Prisons that release low numbers to the UK will fall under the ‘consultancy’ category; for these, post holders will be expected to offer ad-hoc housing advice, but these prisons will not form part of their cluster.

The post holder will identify areas for improvement with respect to access to accommodation for prison leavers and will work in partnership with key strategic housing stakeholders, probation commissioned rehabilitative services (CRS), and Homelessness Prevention Teams (HPTs) to implement sustainable change. You will ensure that work between each prison and relevant HPTs continues to integrate, and that senior leaders across the agency are supported to improve the quality and use of data.

In order to offer informed support and guidance to Governors and their teams, the Strategic Housing Specialist will be required to understand, amongst other aspects, the security category of their base prison and the geographical locations to which prisoners will be released. Prison familiarisation training will be provided to ensure successful candidates have the fundamental knowledge they need to be effective in their roles.

For roles across the women's prison estate, post holders should adopt a trauma-informed and gender specific approach to their role. Post holders should ensure that all activities reflect and embrace the diverse nature of prison populations, including the individual resettlement needs of the female prison population.

Responsibilities, Activities and Duties

The job holder will be required to carry out the following responsibilities, activities and duties:

• The Strategic Housing Specialist will be responsible for co-ordinating the strategic response of a cluster of prisons to improve housing outcomes for prison leavers and people in prison. They shall strengthen and support partnership working between the prison, all relevant housing stakeholders and other key resettlement agencies. They will identify existing structures/partnership working to address homelessness from custody in the region, and work to develop new solutions to homelessness from custody.
• They will champion delivery of the Homelessness Reduction Act (HRA) and Duty to Refer (DtR), Offender Pathway (Wales) within the prison(s). This to include:
• Working with partners to ensure referrals under the DtR are as efficient and effective as possible.
• Design and deliver (or coordinate the delivery of) training related to homelessness within the prison and relevant statutory criminal justice agencies, so staff understand accommodation issues, increase their knowledge around the HRA and DtR, can identify related needs and have the knowledge to respond appropriately.
• Promote the HRA and DtR amongst prisoners to address unhelpful myths, set realistic housing expectations and encourage engagement with the commissioned rehabilitation service, prison housing stakeholders, and local authorities.
• Developing pre-release assessments with Local Authorities in response to DTRs, through telephone, video and in-person assessments.
• Promote the work of the Accommodation Commissioned Rehabilitative Services (CRS) within the prison and support these services by representing the prison on any joint engagement with external partners, such as local authorities or HPTs or local homelessness board. Contribute towards Accommodation CRS becoming successfully embedded into the prison and promote their work to the prison’s Senior Leadership Team. Help to find solutions to issues that arise in relation to practical challenges in service delivery and an understanding of the role of CRS with all relevant staff groups. This role will act as an enabler and will not manage, or duplicate efforts of, the Accommodation CRS.
• Working alongside Probation Regions delivering the Community Accommodation Service - Tier 3(CAS3) temporary accommodation provision:
• Ensure processes are in place to make sure the Duty to Refer has been discharged appropriately and that all other accommodation options have been fully explored before a CAS3 referral is made.
• Work with the Regional Probation team and their Homelessness Prevention Team to maximise use of the accommodation offer for those at risk of homelessness, so that they can access interim accommodation at the point of release.
• Support and upskill staff across the agency (including CPPs and POMs) to ensure accommodation needs are identified and addressed appropriately, to understand relevant referrals and troubleshoot any issues which may arise.
• Promote work within the prison to help prepare prison leavers to sustain accommodation in the community, in line with the Prime Minister’s accommodation target, such as developing and delivering training solutions on tenancy readiness or prisoner’s housing rights.
• Support prisons, PGDs, and relevant partner agencies (such as HPTs) to improve the quality and use of data where it relates to prisoners and housing outcomes, including the use for research and service design and provision.

The duties/responsibilities listed above describe the post as it is at present and is not intended to be exhaustive. The job holder is expected to accept reasonable alterations and additional tasks of a similar level that may be necessary. Significant adjustments may require re-examination under the Job Evaluation Scheme and shall be discussed in the first instance with the job holder.

Behaviours

• Changing and Improving
• Working Together
• Making Effective Decisions
• Seeing the Big Picture
• Communicating and Influencing

Experience

The Candidate is required to have some experience of supporting delivery of the Homelessness Reduction Act, such as:

• Worked within the field of housing and/or homelessness, particularly supporting those at risk of homelessness into accommodation within the region.
• Worked with prisoners or those engaged in the criminal justice system.
• Worked with key related agencies, including prisons, probation and local authorities.
• History of developing partnerships with internal and external stakeholders.
• Worked in a multi-agency operational setting to achieve mutual outcomes.

The Candidate is required to have some understanding of:

• The Justice System, including the roles and responsibilities of prisons and probation.
• Housing legislation, particularly the Homelessness Reduction Act and the Duty to Refer.
• Accommodation options for those leaving prison.
• Benefit system and Universal Credit.
• Resettlement pathways and potential related accommodation needs of prison leavers.

Factor & Examples

Please provide job-specific examples to support the factors below (please refer to guidance for completion):

Skills & Knowledge

The post holder will act as a subject matter expert on issues around housing and homelessness for those in prison and involved in the wider criminal justice system. They will be able to provide strategic advice to regional and prison senior leadership on how to remove the barriers to settled accommodation for prisoners on release and to increase the number of prisoners who are able to maintain their tenancy whilst in custody.

They will have an excellent working knowledge of homelessness and housing law, particularly where it involves prisoners. They will also have an excellent working knowledge of housing options for prisoners, including options for preventing the loss of tenancies and for finding new accommodation on release. They will be able to provide advice to other professionals on the subject.

They will have an understanding of prison induction and resettlement processes, and will be able to identify, advice on and implement improvements to these processes in order to improve housing outcomes for those in custody.

The post holder will be able to engage with and coordinate multiple housing stakeholders, both internal and external to HMPPS, in order to improve processes and pathways relating to housing outcomes for people in custody. This will include working in partnership with agencies such as local authority housing departments, over whom HMPPS may not hold any legislative influence or control.

Being an expert in the field of housing and homelessness will mean that the post holder will have the knowledge required to challenge other stakeholders. They will need the skills required to be able to make such challenges in a diplomatic but assertive way in order to hold other stakeholders to account and drive change.

The post holder will be able to support senior leaders at prison and regional levels to improve the quality of housing-related data that they collect and to use that data to improve performance and design better processes and services.

The post holder will be able to identify barriers to housing for those in prison, develop creative solutions, conduct needs analyses for proposed solutions, engage with stakeholders in order to secure their buy-in, and then develop those solutions into working products that achieve positive change.

Accountability & Decision Making

The post holder will be accountable for:

The post holder will be expected to provide advice and guidance to regional and prison senior leaders in order to strengthen the housing-related processes with their prison(s), developing continuous improvements to operating procedures, developing best practice. When improvements are made, they should be shared to support the development of the best practice across their region and nationally in order for processes to be updated across the prison estate.

They are also expected to be able to see the ‘bigger picture’, and support other government departments, local authorities, services, and policy makers in order to drive change.

The post holder will be accountable for supporting the development of regional and prison-specific housing strategies and wide reducing reoffending re-offending strategies. They will provide the advice on areas for improvement and support the planning and implementation of those improvements whether they be prison-specific or pan-region.

When strategic failure occurs, the post holder will be expected to report where faults are occurring and present workable solutions. These solutions may be used to improve systems within other prisons in the group, so the post holder will be expected to share innovations with the network of other Housing Specialists.

All accommodation services are being designed and delivered to achieve the Criminal Justice Task Force accommodation on release target of 90% (currently measured via the Performance Hub under the CU150 ‘housed on release’ figure).

The post holder will be accountable to:

The Housing Specialist will report to the Regional Head of Reoffending under their region’s Prison Group Director. They will also report to and provide support for the Head of Reducing Reoffending at each prison that they are allocated to (up to 3 prisons depending on demand).

The