Housing Specialist

Last Revised: August 30, 2024
Job Summary:

The Housing Specialist is responsible for using a developmentally appropriate strengths-based approach to engage in partnership with youth to assess, plan, implement, coordinate, monitor, and evaluate the options and services needed to meet their health and human service needs while helping to maintain a supportive and respectful environment for all youth that present for an intake, and/or participate in case management services.  The assessment is to be used to gather information, prioritize needs, and identify barriers through General Case Management, Housing Navigation, and Diversion Case Management (DHS involved and at-risk youth and families).

The Housing Specialist will work collaboratively with Clinical and Program Staff to link youth with clinical and supportive services inside and outside of The Attic, maintaining ongoing follow-up with youth about benefits of services and changing needs.  A primary focus of case management at The Attic will be on Homelessness Prevention and Remediation, assessing each youth for housing insecurity and homelessness from the initial intake and creating individualized support plans that promote independence and self-sufficiency. The Housing Specialist is a full-time exempt position.

Duties and Responsibilities:

Intake / General Assessments

• Assist in Identifying new youth in the space and review prescreening assessments for severity to determine timeline for completion of full assessment and immediacy of referral needs.
• Assist with linking new youth with case managers to schedule a meeting with all newly prescreened youth by the youth’s third visit, to provide a more thorough assessment.
• Assist with completing full needs assessment for all existing youth who have not yet completed a full assessment as a back-up to case managers.
• Act upon a youth’s critical needs appropriately and immediately.
• Orient youth to The Attic’s programs and services.
• Assure that basic safety, nutrition, and hygiene needs are being met; support youth with items as needed from agency’s food cupboard, clothing closet, and toiletry supplies.
• Identify the type of case management that best addresses youth’s presenting situation and needs.
• Link to internal supportive services, and monitoring of progress for youth with no initial housing concerns or crisis.

Case Planning

• Maintain case load of youth with housing-specific needs, including youth assessed to be primarily low-need or short-term crisis.
• Coordinate grant funded financial support for qualified youth attaining housing.
• Develop a comprehensive youth-driven plan with both short-term and long-term goals and keep the plan up to date and relevant about housing.
• Empower youth and young adults to become involved in their own planning and goal setting.
• Complete a timeline and measures for each goal.
• Monitor progress towards goals in meetings with youth, Attic staff, and referral sites in the community.
• Refer and link youth with safe and appropriate resources to assist them with meeting goals.
• Coordinate and support in the delivery of services to youth within The Attic through collaboration and referrals to the program specialists (health and wellness, Ed/Voc, job developer/coach, housing support specialist) and the counseling department.
• Coordinate and support in the delivery of services to youth outside of The Attic through collaboration and referrals to community agencies, services, resources, and supports.
• Work with youth and young adults to develop and strengthen their support systems and the development of permanent connections.
• Facilitate the youth’s attainment of all legal identification documentation needed for the acquisition of community support and services.
• Maintain contact, follow-up, advocacy, and support of youth faced with housing insecurity and homelessness by tracking information in city-wide database, and participation in housing and youth homelessness committee meetings.

Record Keeping and Reporting

• Report critical incidents immediately to your supervisor.
• Maintain client files to include notes regarding contacts and conversations with youth and collaborative persons or entities, progress towards goals and documentation of any incidents relative to youth navigating services, or which impacts the youth’s life.
• Collect data necessary to meet funding requirements and statistical reports from various funders; work with supervisor to develop internal process that is most efficient in reporting qualitative and quantitative data, and least disruptive to work.
• Complete documentation and reports in a timely manner as per specific program service requirements and protocols.
• Input data in corresponding databases on a consistent and timely basis as required.

General Responsibilities

• Work with Clinical and Program Staff to identify and develop programming that addresses the needs of the youth.
• Maintain youth member files and database information; track progress, and report outcomes per guidance by agency and/or funding source.
• Maintain open communication with supervisor around challenging clients and situations; always immediately communicate about youth in crisis or who present to be at risk to harm themselves or others.
• Participate in staff meetings, department meetings and consultations, and supervisory meetings.
• Participate in staff professional development as necessary and/or required.
• Attend and participate in all Attic annual and special events.
• Other relevant duties as assigned.

Teamwork and Collaboration

• Work in collaboration with the program and all other agency staff to facilitate a team environment.
• Participate in the Attic huddle and staff meetings and commits to group decisions.
• Role model effective team behaviors.
• Demonstrate effective communication skills in building relationships with all employees and Attic youth.
• Create good working relationships with area service providers and support programs to facilitate access to area resources for Attic youth.
• Create good working relationships with The Attic’s program specialists (health and wellness, Ed/Voc, housing, leadership, and civic development) and the counseling department to facilitate access to resources, and to support youth in navigating and using the services provided by The Attic.

Attic Youth Center Values

• Treat all youth, visitors, and employees with care, kindness, respect, and dignity.
• Maintain strict confidentiality of all information.
• Adhere to the policies, procedures, code of conduct and attendance rules of The Attic Youth Center.
• The Attic Youth Center proudly celebrates diversity and aims to employ a team that is representative of the expansive identities of the youth that we serve.  We know that a diverse team is more creative, more compassionate, and more relentless in pursuit of supporting LGBTQ youth to thrive. It is only through the collective wisdom of a diverse team that we can uphold our mission to the best of our ability. These values drive our efforts to recruit, develop, and retain diverse humans.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in social work, youth development, or human services-related field or equivalent relevant experience.
• Experienced in community-based case management, strong preference for experience in homelessness prevention and housing support services.
• Experience working with diverse populations of adolescents in an urban setting, including knowledge of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and questioning youth from various cultures and backgrounds.
• Demonstrated knowledge in positive youth development and empowerment.
• Experience collaborating with community agencies.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
• Ability to exercise independent judgment when appropriate and strong decision-making skills.
• Strong proficiency in Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook.

PHYSICAL DEMANDS
These physical demands are representative of the physical requirements necessary for an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of the Housing Specialist job. Reasonable accommodation can be made to enable people with disabilities to perform the described essential functions of the Life Skills job.

• The employee is often required to sit and use their hands and fingers, stand, walk, reach with arms and hands, climb or balance, and to stoop, kneel, crouch or crawl.
• The vision abilities required by this job include close vision.

EEO Statement

The Attic Youth Center is an equal employment opportunity employer. We do not tolerate discrimination or harassment on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, sex, genetic information, ancestry, citizenship, marital status, disability, age, veteran status, or any other protected group or status.