Housing Retention Specialist - Hss - $26.25/Hr

Title: Housing Retention Specialist

Location: Housing Supportive Services

Salary: $26.25 Hourly, Non-Exempt

Shift: Tuesday-Friday 7:00am-6:00pm OR Tuesday-Friday 8:30am-7:00pm

Reports To: Housing Supportive Services Program Manager

Do Good Multnomah’s approach is simple, we offer all program participants our respect and we seek to honor their inherent dignity. While we are committed to providing participants a safe, warm place to stay for the night, we are equally interested in forging meaningful relationships with them. These bonds allow for our staff to serve as mediators and connectors between participants and a variety of service organizations in Portland.

THE COMPANY: The culture and care we strive to provide our shelter participants at Do Good Multnomah is extremely important to all of us. We believe it is essential to gain an understanding of our participants and the issues that they face. In this way, we are changing the way we serve houseless individuals in the Portland community, and we’d love for you to be a part of that.

• Our organization pays a living wage and offers opportunities for continued growth and development within the organization based on employee performance.
• We believe in treating all people like human beings—period. This means we are a highly relational organization, committed to knowing one another and knowing our participants.
• We are decidedly not neutral on matters of inclusion, diversity, equality, and anti-racism; we strive to be a place of refuge and safety for the marginalized.

THE POSITION: The Housing Supportive Services Retention Specialist will be a member of the Housing Supportive Services (HSS) Team whose mission is to support those experiencing houselessness transition from shelter to permanent housing and retain housing. The successful applicant will work together with shelter teams, community partners, and Peer Support Specialists to assist participants as they navigate the first year of housing. The position will be a part of a small team who will support and engage in participants’ overall health and well-being using a person centered, trauma informed, housing first and harm reductive model.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Understand how to navigate the complexities of the Portland Metro region’s social, housing, health, and retention services.
• Develop comprehensive knowledge of community and housing resources and maintain effective relationships with these resources to best meet participant needs.
• Conduct program intakes, exits and follow-ups and ensure corresponding documentation is accurate and uniform.
• Maintain accurate physical and electronic records, including utilizing the Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) to enter and exit participants from the database, and record services provided.
• Prepare and submit participant rent and monthly utility assistance fund requests, as well as general assistance requests when appropriate.
• Assist program participants with the development of participant driven individual goals to attain stability and retain housing.
• Conduct case management visits in participants’ homes and in the community to support, educate and engage participants in their own environment in teams of two.
• Work closely with the Peer Support Specialist to advocate, refer, and assist participants in applying to ensure participants get access to a variety of services and benefits, including employment, mental health, and physical health services.
• Work with the participant, property management and fellow HSS team members to develop housing support plans for eviction prevention purposes.
• Participate in weekly team case conferencing and other on-going, recurring community partner meetings for both Veterans and non- Veterans as appropriate.
• Maintain effective communication with all staff, programs, and community partners.
• Other assigned tasks and duties appropriate to position.
• Adhere to all state and federal privacy and security regulations applicable to the program, and to Do Good Multnomah’s policies and agreements regarding confidentiality, privacy, and security.

SKILLS AND ABILITIES:

• Consistent, clear, and direct communication with referrals, staff, and participants.
• Ability to display a non-judgmental attitude, and a willingness to learn new skills.
• Ability to engage in Do Good’s equity, inclusion, and anti-racist work at the full-staff, program-specific, and individual levels.
• Demonstrated ability to work independently, problem solve, and complete tasks in a timely manner.
• Knowledge to effectively Interpret and apply a variety of legal requirements and policy standards specific to fair housing and landlord tenant laws.
• Knowledge of procedures, techniques, and standards to optimize individual case management practice.
• Knowledge of assertive engagement and harm reduction approaches and demonstrated ability in utilizing Motivational Interviewing Techniques
• Demonstrated ability to work with individuals with serious and persistent mental illness (SPMI) and/or substance use disorder.
• Must be self-motivated and detail oriented.
• Ability to communicate clearly and concisely both verbally and in writing.
• Ability to work courteously with the public, participants, and co-workers.
• Ability to maintain accurate records and necessary paperwork and maintain HIPAA compliance.
• Ability to learn and apply training instruction.
• Ability and knowledge to provide advocacy.
• Professional maintenance of appropriate boundaries.