Faith and Public Life Housing Project Mapping and Grants Officer
Please Note: The application deadline for this post has now passed.
Post Introduction
The purpose of the Housing Project Mapping and Grants Officer role is to work with the newly-appointed Housing Project Manager to help set up and deliver the Church of England’s first project designed to support dioceses and parishes in promoting solutions to the housing crisis.
The Archbishops’ Council has allocated £4.25m to this work over five years, starting in autumn 2024. Your role as Mapping and grants Officer is to (a) make use of the Good Steward Mapping tool to research national, diocesan, parochial and other land-holdings which offer potential for housing development, (b) manage a small grant scheme offering small grants (c.£10—20k) to help local initiatives surmount initial hurdles as they develop housing proposals. The core activities of the project are to give support to local housing projects and to advocate for housing initiatives as part of the church’s mission strategy. Your work will be geared to delivering both these aims.
About the Department
The Housing Project team will comprise you and the Housing project Manager who will be the main adviser on housing to parishes, dioceses etc. The team will be supported by a half-time Executive Assistant who will be part of the Faith and Public Life Administrative team, ensuring that the project has full administrative support.
What you'll be doing
In this role you will:
- Work collaboratively with the Housing Project Manager to set up and deliver the project.
- Build and maintain relationships with dioceses, parishes, cathedrals etc. to encourage interest and commitment to housing initiatives.
- Use the Mapping tool to research housing opportunities at the request of dioceses.
- Handle applications to the small grants programme, working with the Grants Panel to assess their merits and decide and communicate the outcome of applications.
- Work collaboratively with the Housing Project Manager to set up and deliver the project.
About You
The Church of England is for everyone and we want to reflect the diversity of the community the Church serves across the whole country. Therefore, while of course we welcome all applications from interested and suitably experienced people, we would particularly welcome applicants from UK Minoritised Ethnicities (UKME)/Global Majority Heritage (GMH) and other under-represented groups. As a Disability Confident employer, we are committed to recruiting disabled people. We offer interviews to disabled people who meet the minimum criteria for the role.
To be succcessful in this role, you will need:
- Expertise in the use of Geographical Information Systems and spatial data, and in interpreting the data they reveal.
- An understanding of the structures of the Church of England, its missional objectives and how housing initiatives fit within the church’s priorities.
- Sufficient numeracy and financial literacy to deal with grant applications and help the grants Panel to reach informed decisions.
- Experience of local voluntary-sector social-action projects.
- Attention to detail – including planning for meetings, conferences etc.
For a detailed person specification, please see attached job description.
What we offer
Our benefits include:
- A salary of £46,577 per annum plus age-related pension contributions between 8-15% of salary. We will also match any pension contributions you make up to an additional 3% of salary.
- 25 days annual leave (increasing to 30 days within 5 years) plus three additional days
- Flexible working hours and location.
- Structured induction programme and access to a range of development opportunities including apprenticeships
- Access to Occupational Health, and an Employee Assistance Programme
- Opportunity to the Civil Service Sports & Social Club, and get involved in a range of staff networks, groups and societies
We try to be as flexible as we can in your work pattern to support you with other commitments, and to give a good work-life balance.
The National Church Institutions comprises a wide variety of teams, professions and functions that support the mission and ministries of the Church of England in its vision to be a church, centred on Jesus Christ, for the whole nation - a church that is simpler, humbler, bolder.
We Include. You Belong.
Our Belonging and Inclusion Strategy aims for everyone in the National Church Institutions (NCIs) to feel that they belong, and are valued for who they are and what they contribute. Together, our people contribute in different ways towards our common purpose, whichever NCI they work in and whatever their background.
Living out our values in all that we do, we:
- Strive for Excellence
- Show Compassion
- Respect others
- Collaborate
- Act with Integrity
We believe our commitment to belonging and inclusion fuels our progress and drives us forward. The NCIs are a safe, inclusive workplace for people of all backgrounds and walks of life. We welcome applications from people of all faiths and of no faith. We want to encourage applications from a diverse group of people who share our values. Even if you have never thought about working for us before, if you have the skills and experience we’re looking for then we would like to hear from you.
