Director of Housing

Boston Public Health Commission•Boston, MA

About The Position

The Boston Public Health Commission's Homeless Services Bureau (HSB) provides emergency shelter, job training, behavioral health support, and housing services to unhoused individuals in Boston. The HSB serves close to 5,000 individuals every year and is one of the largest providers of emergency shelter in New England. HSB aims to make homelessness in Boston rare, brief, and one time. It does that by problem-solving with new guests at the front door to try to prevent anyone from entering homelessness to begin with. For individuals who do become homeless and use our shelters, HSB endeavors to help them quickly move out of homelessness and find a safe and stable place to live. After a client is housed outside the shelter, HSB staff provides in-home support to help individuals avoid someone a return to homelessness. The HSB uses a Housing First and racial justice framework, which is built on the foundation that housing is a social determinant of health, a basic need that everyone deserves, and does not require sobriety. HSB believes that everyone, with the right support, can succeed in housing. HSB fosters evidence-based approaches such as trauma-informed care, harm reduction, and motivational interviewing in the delivery of services, and strives to deliver services that are accessible to all clients. The housing department helps clients quickly find and move out of homelessness and into permanent housing and then helps clients succeed in housing. Through housing navigation, housing staff engage clients in housing conversations, help them access all possible housing options, and coordinate unit viewings, lease signings, and move-in logistics. Through landlord relations and housing location, housing staff build rapport with current and potential landlords, explain program details, and help locate viable housing opportunities. Through housing stabilization, housing staff work to ensure that clients succeed in housing and do not return to homelessness by providing in-home support and connecting clients to community-based services. Reporting to the Associate Bureau Director, the Director of Housing is responsible for developing and managing the Bureau's housing services. The director is an excellent manager who can both identify strategic priorities and ensure quality implementation of services. They have experience in housing vulnerable populations, developing departmental protocols, ensuring grant and funding compliance, and delivering services with a trauma-informed, racial equity lens. The Housing Director is responsible for building capacity of the Housing Department to rapidly increase the number of clients we house each year by developing, monitoring, and implementing departmental policies, protocols, and new grant initiatives.

Requirements

Master's level and a minimum of 5 years supervisory or management experience, OR, Bachelor's degree a minimum of 7 years supervisory or management experience, or 10 years of relevant work experience may be substituted for degree requirement
Experience working with diverse ethnic, racial and low-income populations. Experience working with homeless or adult special needs populations. Proven experience in program development and management.
Commitment to racial equity, housing first, trauma-informed care, and harm reduction.
Knowledge of Boston community and neighborhoods desirable.
Knowledge of housing navigation and stabilization and/or case work principles and practices. Proven experience collaborating with local authorities and agencies, property management agencies and private landlords in successful housing outcomes.
Proven ability to design, implement and evaluate social service programs. Proven experience in developing community-based partnerships and consortiums of providers in implementing best practices.
Knowledge of effective service interventions for homeless.
Must have excellent organizational, written, verbal and communication skills as well as personnel management experience.

Nice To Haves

Two years of demonstrated formal or informal social justice advocacy experience and/or community organizing/mobilization experience.
Bilingual or fluent in Spanish preferred.

Responsibilities

Senior leadership position within the Homeless Services Bureau responsible for managing and developing all the Bureau's housing services to help the Bureau meet its goals of making homelessness a brief episode and a one-time occurrence.
Responsible for the overall management of all Bureau's housing services, including housing navigation, housing search, landlord relationships, and housing stabilization.
Develops policies and protocols to ensure effective service delivery of each area listed above to ensure that clients access housing quickly and maintain housing successfully.
Manages and oversees staff to implement clear workflows, ensures program model integrity, monitors grant and funding compliance, and frequently reviews data to inform needed changes to the program model.
Ensures all services embody the principles of housing first and promote racial equity. Champions creative approaches and works to advocate and problem-solve to help clients with high barriers succeed in getting and staying housed.
Works collaboratively with BHA, MBHP, HomeStart, PSI and Boston area landlords on securing apartment units for our clients. Develops relationship with landlords and ensures apartments meet safe housing standards.
In collaboration with BPHC finance, oversees and monitors BPHC leases and monthly payments for BPHC leased units, ensuring timely and accurate payments, and program and funding compliance.
Actively collaborates with other Bureau departments, including Triage, Behavioral Health, Operations, and Workforce Development, to identify the most effective ways to engage shelter guests in housing services and keeping shelter guests housed.
Develops and conducts regular training to improve staff's expertise in housing services. Ensures all housing staff are trained in housing navigation, critical time intervention, and their specific programs' policies and workflows.
Ensures timeliness and accuracy of department's use of HMIS; runs reports to track progress on housing goals, conducts regular data validations.
Monitors spending for assigned grants as well as any rental assistance or support for clients, ensuring accurate files and documentation.
Oversees community-housing placements and rental agreements. Oversees access to housing subsidies for clients including McKinney SHP, SPC Sponsor based, SPC Tenant based, MRVP Sponsor based, MRVP Tenant Based, BHA PBV and BHA Mod Rehab. Ensures vacancies are accurately reported and quickly filled.
Responsible for maintaining and expand third party billing opportunities.
Assumes responsibility for recruitment, hiring, training, evaluation and discipline of all staff in assigned departments. Provides direct supervision to assigned staff
Assists the Bureau Director in the execution of a shared Housing First philosophy, trauma-informed model of services, and operations protocols across Bureau's service components creating a comprehensive, coordinated, and integrated service delivery model.
Assists Bureau Director in developing, implementing, evaluating, and directing programs and initiatives and developed program practice standards.
In collaboration with the Bureau Director builds partnerships and advocates for organizations to resolve barriers that are preventing clients from succeeding in housing.
Responsible for aligning Bureau's housing efforts with the Continuum of Care (CoC), implementing CoC policies, and actively participating to improve CoC policies and decisions.
Represents Homeless Services in the community about all housing issues and at community-based meetings. Primary liaison with DND on Coordinated Entry, PSH, and rapid rehousing, serving on needed leadership committees and working groups.
Responsible for management of all grants in designated programs, annual progress reports, site visits and grant renewals. Responsible for statistical data collection and other reporting responsibilities to funding sources.
Works in a team-oriented approach to ensure the successful delivery of services.
Operates independently. Uses independent judgment and discretion to make decisions affecting the program and staff as it relates to program operations/services and BPHC policy.
Works in a confidential capacity.
Makes and recommends management and personnel decisions for, including but not limited to promotion, transfer and assignment of staff, and imposition of discipline.
Performs other duties as assigned.