The Housing Advocate will contribute to solving homelessness by providing supportive case management and housing placement services to chronic street homeless individuals in our Manhattan catchment area (As defined through Breaking Ground’s partnership with the Manhattan Outreach Consortium). Specifically, s/he will work with the client to deliver comprehensive housing placement and case management services that include but are not limited to obtaining a TB test, securing income (in collaboration with the Entitlements Unit), obtaining identification, completing psychosocial assessments, facilitating psychiatric evaluations, complete the HRA 2010e and other appropriate housing applications, and to secure safe haven, stabilization bed, and ultimately permanent housing placement. Housing Advocate will build a relationship with client utilizing motivational interviewing to encourage client to work towards permanent housing. The Housing Advocate will also work with anyone who is street homeless in the Street to Home catchment area to the extent that it is in compliance with program operations and agency mission. The Housing Advocate is required to respond to 311’s during his/her shift and canvass for clients during cold/hot weather alerts. The Housing Advocate will work closely with clients, members of the Street to Home team, including the Team Leaders, Assistant Community Director and Community Director and partner agencies to prepare clients for permanent housing.
Essential Duties
Engage chronically street homeless individuals on the streets of Manhattan
Assess clients for appropriate housing environment
Complete housing applications
Escort clients to appointments to obtain benefits, medical checkups, etc
Communicate with team members through progress notes, program databases reports staff meetings, and weekly clinical supervision
Liaison with other service providers on behalf of clients
Performs other related duties as assigned
Minimum Qualifications
EDUCATION Undergraduate degree or equivalent experience
EXPERIENCE Atleast two years working in the same or similar work environment, experience working with homeless population preferred
SKILLS Excellent interpersonal and problems solving skills, bilingual in Spanish and English preferred
LICENSES AND CERTIFICATION Must have valid New York state driver’s license
COMPUTER SKILLS Proficiency with Microsoft Office (Word, Outlook, Excel) and Microsoft Access database
The Partnership for the Homeless has an immediate opening at our Family Resource Center (FRC) in East New York, Brooklyn, for a talented and creative Housing Advocate to join a multi-disciplinary team that works to assist children and their families, who are homeless or at-risk of homelessness, break free from the cycles of need and move toward greater economic opportunity and independence.
Some of the responsibilities of the Housing Advocate will include:
Assisting homeless families secure decent, affordable housing, and those families at-risk maintain their housing or relocate to more suitable housing.
Providing direct advocacy assistance to individual clients and client groups, which may involve issues involving government benefits and other income supports; assistance in remediating housing conditions, and assistance at administrative hearings and in housing and other courts.
Collaborating with and acting as a resource for other FRC staff on housing issues.
Undertaking significant community-wide impact activity, working with community, client and other groups related to neighborhood and city-wide housing issues.
Providing community education to clients, client groups, and staff of community-based organizations regarding housing issues, along with the preparation of materials relating to the presentations.
Working with legal aid/legal services attorneys and members of the private pro bono bar, as necessary, on legal issues impacting our clients and client groups.
The qualifications of the Housing Advocate will include:
Demonstrated commitment to working with homeless and at-risk clients;
Experience in providing community-based services, with a strong expertise in housing;
An understanding of the City’s housing market, and the ability to develop strong business relationships in the private housing market (real estate owners, developers, and brokers) and the supportive housing community;
Excellent organizational, communication (written and oral), and leadership skills;
The ability to work collaboratively with other staff and community-based organizations;
A demonstrated commitment to social and economic justice;
A willingness to work non-traditional hours and days to meet project needs;
BA/BS or advanced degree preferred; and
Bilingual skills (strongly preferred but not required).
How to apply
For more information about the Partnership for the Homeless, please visit our website, www.partnershipforthehomeless.org. Competitive salary and an excellent benefits package. Interested applicants should send their resume and cover letter to:
The Partnership for the Homeless
Human Resources Department
305 Seventh Avenue, 14th Floor
New York, NY10001
or email – jobs@pfth.org
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