Member of the Supervisory Board (Social Entrepreneurship and Social Innovation) at Woonkwartier

At the request of the Supervisory Board (RvC) of Woonkwartier, Berenschot Search is looking for a committed, experienced supervisor with a vision for social entrepreneurship and social innovation. A critical and constructive sparring partner for the board and the RvC in connecting social choices (such as vital and caring neighborhoods and centers, meeting, and livability) to the vision on real estate and business operations, including financial implications. We are therefore looking for a commissioner who is connecting, socially driven, has an eye for others, reasons integrally, and can pivot well in rapidly changing times.

The application period for this vacancy is closed.

Do you want to make a social impact and use your expertise for this open organization with a clear vision, great ambitions, and clear core values? Then read on!

Woonkwartier is a medium-sized housing association in West Brabant and manages approximately 9,500 rental units in 18 villages and towns within the municipalities of Halderberge, Moerdijk, and Steenbergen. Driven by strong local involvement, Woonkwartier is committed to providing sufficient, good, sustainable, and affordable housing for the people who rely on it. Additionally, Woonkwartier is the owner of De Pompier in Hoogerheide (municipality of Woensdrecht), a residential complex of SDW that provides a home to people with intellectual disabilities.

Woonkwartier feels strongly connected to its working area and works on homes that suit the life stage and needs of residents, now and in the future. Together with residents and social partners, Woonkwartier is also committed to vital, diversely composed, and sustainable village centers and neighborhoods. Neighborhoods where people live together pleasantly, look out for one another, and where there is space for meeting, safety, and livability. In doing so, the core values personal, practical, and proactive are central.

Woonkwartier operates in a complex and changing environment, in which challenges regarding affordability, availability, sustainability, and livability converge. This requires an agile and professional organization that is capable of making strategic choices and handling resources and risks carefully. Continuous work is being done on further professionalization, with attention to governance, management, and the sustainable employability of employees.

More information about Woonkwartier, including the strategic plan and annual accounts, can be found on the website of Woonkwartier.

The RvC of Woonkwartier currently consists of 5 members and exercises its responsibility based on the Housing Association Governance Code. According to the current rotation of retirement of the RvC, two commissioners will step down statutorily on January 1, 2028, and two more commissioners the following year. In the interest of desired continuity within the RvC, both for the director and for the organization as well as for the RvC itself, the RvC has decided to expand the RvC now with a sixth commissioner. As of January 1, 2028, it will continue again with 5 commissioners. This provides more spread in time for the retirement and recruitment of commissioners, ensuring that the continuity of knowledge about and experience with Woonkwartier is secured within the RvC.

The members of the RvC collectively form a multidisciplinary team and are complementary to each other in terms of knowledge, experience, and networks. There is affinity with social issues in general and with the objectives of the association in particular. The atmosphere within the board is committed, informal, and constructive.

We are looking for a candidate who:

• is aware of developments in the social-societal domain and has a clear vision on social housing and social innovation;

• is familiar with the developments in the working area of Woonkwartier and possesses a current vision on the social housing market and the social challenges in this working area;

• actively contributes to the movement within Woonkwartier towards social-societal entrepreneurship. This means that social ambitions – in particular working on vital and caring neighborhoods and centers – are consistently connected with financially healthy, future-proof choices in real estate and business operations;

• understands that social impact can only be realized sustainably when it is accompanied by implementation power, focus, and solid management, and emphatically sees financial policy, real estate strategy, and business operations as means to strengthen the social goal of Woonkwartier;

• is involved in developments in the fields of housing, well-being, and care and knows how to thoroughly understand the complexity of the social and political playing field;

• has a relevant regional network in the social-societal field and has a connection to the working area of Woonkwartier;

• is connecting and curious; someone who is accessible and beyond their own ego, with humor and reflective capacity;

• can operate independently and is able to fulfill the supervisory role professionally and critically.

• Authenticity: consistent and open, objective and critical.

• Administrative insight: sense of reality, common sense, and awareness of the complexity of housing associations.

• A helicopter view.

• Integrity and moral awareness: moral, ethical, and accountable, free from any appearance of conflict of interest or accountability to a constituency.

• Independent judgment: dares to ask difficult questions, curious, independent mind.

• Professional knowledge and vision: realistic, future-oriented, and risk-aware.

•  Self-reflection: insight into influences on one's own functioning, ability to learn, shaping one's own learning process.

• Social (environmental) sensitivity and responsibility: awareness of the specific (social) role of housing associations.

• Social involvement, preferably in the region.

• Affinity with the objectives of the association, social-societal issues, the local community, preferably also a local network (e.g., public administration, associations, care, knowledge institutions).

• Affinity with small centers and the region.

• Sufficient availability and time.

• Additionally, you are a team player: binding and connecting, capable of providing safety and resolving conflicts, decisive in a team context, capable of conducting sharp discussions collegially.

The appointment period is four years, with a possible extension of four years. The remuneration is in accordance with the advisory standard of the VTW.

The recruitment and selection for this procedure is facilitated by Berenschot. Are you interested? Then send your motivation letter and curriculum vitae via the apply button to Marion Kortenraij of Berenschot Search no later than September 4, 2026.

Do you have any questions? Please feel free to contact Marion at 06-11 37 84 88 (on holiday from July 24 to August 15; during that period, Dorothé Verwijmeren can be reached at 06 82 39 45 45). They will be happy to tell you more about the vacancy.

Interested candidates will be invited for an orientation interview at Berenschot in week 38 after an initial selection. Based on this, Berenschot will nominate candidates to the RvC of Woonkwartier. Selected candidates will then be invited for interviews at Woonkwartier on October 6 from 5:30 PM.