Jobs for the Housing and Homelessness sector

YMCA DownsLink Group (YMCA DLG) is the leading charity supporting children and young people across Sussex and Surrey through safe homes, mental health support and trusted advice. Following a significant period of organisational stabilisation and transformation, we are now entering an ambitious new phase focused on growth, influence and deepening our impact.

We are seeking an experienced and values-led Director of Mental Health and Advice to join our Executive Team and lead our counselling and specialist support and advice services for children and young people. This is a strategically important leadership role with responsibility for community and schools counselling, specialist youth advice and sexual exploitation services, safeguarding, service quality and contract growth across a complex and evolving operational landscape.

You will bring visible leadership across services, strengthen partnerships with commissioners and local authorities, and help shape the future of mental health and advice support for children and young people across the region. Alongside this, you will help lead the organisation as a whole, contributing to long-term sustainability, growth and strategic direction.

This appointment forms part of a wider strengthening of YMCA DLG’s Executive Team, alongside the recruitment of a second Director role, as the organisation enters its next phase of growth and impact. This is an opportunity to join an ambitious organisation at a pivotal moment and help shape what comes next.

Peridot Partners are supporting us with the recruitment of this role. When you click 'Redirect to Recruiter' you will be redirected to the full job advert and how to apply on the Peridot Partners website.

Closing date: 9 am Tuesday 30th June

 DownsLink Group (YMCA DLG) is the leading charity supporting children and young people across Sussex and Surrey through safe homes, mental health support and trusted advice. Following a significant period of organisational stabilisation and transformation, we are now entering an ambitious new phase focused on growth, influence and deepening our impact.

We are seeking an experienced and values-led Director of Supported Housing to join our Executive Team and lead our resident-led housing services for young people aged 16-25. This is a strategically important leadership role with responsibility for supported housing, safeguarding, asset management, service quality and housing growth across a complex and evolving operational landscape.

You will bring visible leadership across services, strengthen partnerships with commissioners and local authorities, and help shape the future of housing support for young people across the region. Alongside this, you will help lead the organisation as a whole, contributing to long-term sustainability, growth and strategic direction.

This appointment is part of a wider strengthening of YMCA DLG’s Executive Team, alongside the recruitment of a second Director, as the organisation enters its next phase of growth and impact. This is an opportunity to join an ambitious organisation at a pivotal moment and help shape what comes next.

Peridot Partners are supporting us with the recruitment of this role. When you click 'Redirect to Recruiter' you will be redirected to the full job advert and how to apply on the Peridot Partners website.

Closing date: 9 am Tuesday 30th June

Can you tell a great story?

Hope into Action is an inspiring story.  It starts with a couple, Ed and Rach Walker, who decide to use £30,000 of their own money to buy a house for people who were homeless in Peterborough in 2010.  And from this seed, an organisation has grown which 16 years later has 134 houses and has seen over £34 million invested in homes for people who were homeless.

Hope into Action is a story of how faith in God has been put into action and led to resources being shared, new relationships being formed and people’s lives being transformed.

Last year we housed over 500 people who had been homeless. Each of those individuals has a story to share of how Hope into Action has helped them. This is the story we want to share.

The Communications & Engagement Lead is responsible for implementing Hope into Action’s communications and engagement strategy. Working closely with the CEO, they will be responsible for telling the Hope into Action story and driving increased engagement with our vision for every church in the UK to be engaged in ending homelessness.

At least 50% of the role is harvesting stories from around our Network to create engaging content which expresses our vision and mission. We want someone who can be both responsive and strategic. To hear a story from our frontline workers and be able to share it on our website and social media later that day – whilst also working towards the longer term goal of more people in the UK being aware of our work and its impact.

We are focused on combining both professional excellence and spiritual passion. The first quality we look for in our staff, therefore, is a passion for the work we do. This needs to be matched by integrity and commitment to leading by our values. You will work closely with all other departments in the organisation, so an ability to build and maintain strong relationships in a rapidly growing and constantly changing organisation is essential.

A deep commitment to the Christian faith is essential as is the ability to communicate the nuance of our faith-driven work sensitively, maturely and passionately. Whilst our office hours are 9am-5pm we support staff in their flexible working. For this role you will be expected to be in our Peterborough Support Centre Office at least 2 days per week with occasional travel to other locations. Our office is located 5 minutes’ walk from Peterborough railway station and with good parking facilities available.

We are committed to staff care and realise the importance of a good work-life balance. To help our staff perform to their best, we offer a range of benefits including generous leave allowance and occupational sick pay provision, retreat days and sabbatical leave, an employee assistance programme and a generous workplace pension, to name a few.

Hope into Action has a great story to share – could you come and help us tell it better?

About the Role

Off The Fence is seeking a strategic, relationship-driven fundraiser to drive income growth across the most sustainable revenue streams in the UK charity sector. As Legacies, Philanthropy & Partnerships Lead, you will play a pivotal role in securing major gifts, building a strong legacy pipeline, and developing high-value partnerships that will underpin our ambitious, faith-driven10-year vision to break the cycle of social and spiritual poverty in Brighton & Hove and beyond.

This is a unique opportunity for a mission-motivated fundraiser to combine strategic thinking with hands-on delivery, working closely with the CEO to cultivate high-net-worth donors, engage churches, and inspire long-term support through meaningful relationships and compelling storytelling.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead legacy fundraising strategy, growing a pipeline of pledged gifts and developing initiatives such as legacy campaigns and supporter recognition programmes.
• Cultivate high-net-worth individuals and donor-advised fund supporters, securing significant multi-year contributions.
• Build and strengthen church partnerships, delivering presentations and developing co-mission opportunities aligned with our faith-based values.
• Develop and steward individual donors, improving retention and creating clear pathways for increased giving.
• Deliver fundraising events and campaigns, including major events, community initiatives, and seasonal appeals.
• Develop corporate and community partnerships, generating both financial and in-kind support.
• Monitor and report on income performance, ensuring compliance and maintaining accurate CRM records.

About You

You’ll be a confident and relational fundraiser with a proven ability to grow income and build meaningful partnerships. You will bring:

• Experience in fundraising (ideally across legacies, major gifts, or HNW donors)
• Excellent communication and relationship-building skills
• A strategic mindset with strong delivery capability
• A passion for social impact and transforming lives

Please note: A requirement of the role is for the post-holder to be a practising Christian in accordance with the Equality Act 2010.

Why Join Us?

At Off The Fence, you’ll be part of a compassionate and ambitious organisation working at the frontline of social and spiritual poverty, homelessness, and social exclusion in Brighton and Hove. You’ll help shape long-term impact through innovative programmes and a bold vision for the future.

We offer:

• £30,000 salary + 7% pension contribution
• 34 days annual leave (incl. bank holidays)
• Training and development opportunities
• Mission leave for volunteering and spiritual growth
• 24/7 wellbeing support (BUPA EAP)
• The chance to make a tangible difference to over 1,000 lives each year

The Lead Support Worker is a vital member of the frontline team, leading our trauma informed, person centred specialist support work for people in Boaz accommodation who have had their asylum claims refused.

Our accommodation is for single adults, and is provided through shared housing. We know that housing is key for people who are facing homelessness after a negative asylum decision, and that a combination of accommodation, specialist support, and access to legal advice is an essential foundation for people who have often experienced significant trauma.

The Lead Support Worker will be the main contact for this area of our support work and will have their own case load of people living in Boaz accommodation (currently, this case load will be men who have had their asylum claims refused). The Lead Support Worker will provide line management to a Support Worker within the same project, while also integrating within our wider support team. We currently have 22 bed spaces for people who have been refused asylum, but we hope to increase this number in the months ahead. The post may line manage more than one Support Worker if the service expands in the future. 

This role ensures that people who have been refused asylum are supported throughout their time in Boaz accommodation: from being referred, to moving into Boaz  accommodation, to moving on from Boaz (our accommodation is temporary, and is usually provided for up to 12 months). Our holistic support model means that the support will vary per individual, however it will include offering legal support (in partnership with a local legal provider), access to healthcare, wellbeing, housing support, as well as other objectives set by the people we work with. This role will also help lead on our programme of wellbeing activities (Boaz Life), offering opportunities for people supported by Boaz.

As well as overseeing and providing support to individuals, the Lead Support Worker will also proactively build and maintain excellent external partner relationships, seeking out opportunities to benefit people living in Boaz accommodation. 

We are looking for someone who can deliver a high quality, trauma informed and person centred service for the people we support. This will include proactively improving processes and paperwork to support the team and service delivery. The Lead Support Worker will need to be well organised and make effective use of time, striking the balance between line management and Lead responsibilities, face to face support, completing case notes, reports and other required documentation, whilst being flexible enough to accommodate changes in plans and priorities. 

This role involves working with people who are often in very precarious situations and we are therefore looking for a Lead Support Worker who has high emotional intelligence, great communication skills, can build trusting relationships with people, and understands the journeys that people seeking asylum may have undertaken and the impact of destitution. 

Good systems enable better care.

We’re so grateful for all our supporters. We want them to feel valued as they generously support our mission to empower churches to end homelessness in the UK. And to do that well, we need someone who is passionate about people, data and systems. Great supporter care depends on accurate data. 

Are you highly organised, great with people and confident working with CRM systems? Do you have excellent attention to detail and enjoy improving processes, data quality and reporting? 

This is an exciting, varied and hands-on role combining supporter stewardship, CRM management, reporting and insight. You’ll play a key role in ensuring supporters receive excellent care and stewardship, while taking ownership of CRM data quality, reporting and continuous improvement across our systems. 

Reporting to the Fundraising Lead, you’ll support the development of our CRM, maintain high standards of data quality, producing clear reporting and insight, and help improve how we use data across the organisation. You’ll play a key role in future CRM developments. 

As part of a small but growing team, you’ll work closely with colleagues across the organisation, so the ability to build strong relationships and collaborate effectively is essential.

We are passionate about combining professional excellence with spiritual passion. The first quality we look for in our staff is a commitment to the work we do, matched by integrity and a desire to live out our values. A deep commitment to the Christian faith is essential, alongside the ability to communicate the nuance of our faith-driven work sensitively, maturely and passionately.

This is a hybrid role across our Peterborough, Nottingham, Cambridge and Norwich offices, alongside home working. Wednesdays are a regular team day in Peterborough and are a key part of how we work together. We usually work in person around two days per week, with flexibility on the rest of the pattern. 

We are committed to staff wellbeing and offer a range of benefits including generous annual leave, retreat days, sabbatical leave, an employee assistance programme and a generous workplace pension.

Help us strengthen how we use data to serve our mission. 
Help us empower churches to end homelessness in the UK.