Job Description

Housing staff work quickly and creatively to identify solutions to help each client. While staff are assigned to focus on specific areas of housing support as described below, elements of each are included in all housing positions.

DUTIES: As assigned, responsible for the delivery of services to help clients find, move to, and remain in permanent housing.

Housing Navigation:

• Outreaches to and builds rapport with clients to engage them in housing.
• Assists clients to navigate and stay up to date on all possible housing options they may qualify for, including but not limited to subsidized housing, market rate/private housing, shared housing, and permanent supportive housing.
• Completes intakes and assessments on participants to determine housing choices, needs, and barriers, which includes completing housing histories and viewing credit reports and criminal background checks.
• Creates individual housing plans and identifies strategies to help clients remove barriers and find appropriate housing options.
• Assists clients in obtaining all required documents for various housing opportunities.
• Searches for housing opportunities and assists clients in interacting with potential landlords and housing providers.

Housing Location and Landlord Liaising: Searches online and through all available resources for affordable rental housing options.

• Creates, maintains, and regularly updates an inventory of housing options.
• Outreaches to potential new landlords and recruits them to become landlord partners in the program.
• Completes and coordinates required housing documents including rent reasonableness checklists and housing inspections. Helps client understand their leases and facilitates rent sharing agreements when necessary.
• Matches clients’ needs and choices with housing options.
• Working with housing navigators, provides mediation and advocacy with landlords as needed to resolve concerns or problems to help the client maintain stable housing.
• Coordinates move-in logistics, including understanding and signing the lease and obtaining furniture initial start-up funds.

Housing Stabilization:

• Uses critical time intervention (CTI) to provide in-home housing stabilization services to individuals placed in housing.
• Creates and monitors individual service plans to address barriers help clients gain the necessary skills to succeed in housing, focusing on but not limited to housing payment, legal issues, income and employment, independent living skills, community engagement, health care, and mental health.
• Builds knowledge of and connections to community-based resources and helps clients utilize these services.
• Develops service transition plans to reduce the level of care needed and refer clients to community-based resources.
• Help clients search, identify, and move to more suitable and sustainable housing placements when necessary.

Department-wide responsibilities

• Engages all clients using a Housing First approach, delivers services using principles of trauma-informed care and harm-reduction, and promotes racial equity.
• Actively coordinates with other departments to provide integrated services to guests.
• Maintains up to date and accurate service plans, client files, and client records/documents, entering timely and accurate data into BPHC’s and the City’s HMIS databases.
• Coordinates referrals and connects clients to key services to help them find and succeed in housing, including but not limited to external housing navigation services, benefits and income maximization, community-based resources, and stabilization services.
• Transports clients to critical appointments to find and/or maintain housing.
• Participates in regular team meetings and trainings.
• Working to help BPHC become an antiracist organization by meeting or exceeding the standards set by the BPHC Anti-Racism Policy.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree with a minimum one (1) year human services experience. College level course work equivalent to an Associate’s degree with two (2) years human services experience or High School diploma/GED and three (3) years human services experience may be substituted for above requirements.
• Commitment to racial equity, housing first, trauma-informed care, and harm reduction.
• Previous experience working with homeless, diverse ethnic and racial, or low-income populations with an understanding of barriers posed by mental health, substance use immigration status, and criminal record.
• Knowledge of Boston area housing resources and social service agencies.
• Strong organizational and communication skills.
• Computer proficiency including writing, sending, and managing emails, using and entering data into an online database, completing electronic assessments, entering and updating data on Excel.
• Valid driver's license
• Bilingual English/Spanish preferred