Housing Advocate

Common Ground•New York, NY

43d

About The Position

The Prince George Located in Manhattan, The Prince George offers 416 units of permanent supportive housing to low-income New Yorkers, people living with HIV/AIDS, and chronically homeless individuals, including some with mental illness. The Center for Urban Community Services provides comprehensive onsite social services, and Breaking Ground coordinates property management services. Built in 1904, The Prince George was once one of New York City's premier hotels and is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Housing Advocate The Housing Advocate works with street homeless conducting street outreach with the objective of engaging individuals to determine their eligibility for Street to Home services and to help secure appropriate housing solutions for all people who are street homeless. If chronic, the Housing Advocate will build a relationship with clients utilizing motivational interviewing to encourage the client to work towards permanent housing. If not chronic, Housing Advocate will utilize available resources to secure other housing placements. The Housing Advocate will always work with a partner and will spend most of the shift in an automobile conducting street outreach. The incumbent will respond to 311 calls and community concerns; participate in Code Blue and Code Red alerts; identify new hotspots/encampments and work to eradicate existing hot spots/encampments; conduct a bi-annual vulnerability index on all clients in their catchment area; and enter all required data into outreach database(s). This position has a 35-hour work week.

Requirements

Two years related work experience
Bachelor's degree or equivalent education and experience
Knowledgeable about local benefit agencies and familiarity with substance abuse, mental health, and employment issues
Strong oral and written communication skills
Proficiency with Microsoft Office Suite and electronic record keeping
Valid NY, NJ, CT, or PA driver's license with a good driving record, as defined by Breaking Ground, is a condition of employment
Must maintain a good driving record (as defined by the organization) is a condition of employment

Nice To Haves

Bi-lingual (English/Spanish) preferred

Responsibilities

Engage with all persons on the street who appear homeless
Create and maintain active registry of chronic homeless clients; non-chronic included in registry
Conduct vulnerability assessment
Attend clinical supervision and training
Develop and maintain recordkeeping files and databases, completion of necessary reports and data entry
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
Collaborate with Parks Department, NYPD, DSNY, MTA, and other agencies
Respond to 311 calls
Participate in Code Blue/Red
Monitor encampments
Performs other related duties as assigned