Housing Advocate

Breaking Ground•New York, NY

About The Position

Breaking Ground’s Street to Home programs make regular contact with more than 2,000 street homeless individuals and connect more than 500 individuals to housing, medical and mental health services, substance abuse counseling, and other essential supports each year. More than 95% of people placed by Breaking Ground remain stably housed. The Housing Advocate conducts street outreach to engage people experiencing homelessness, determine eligibility for Street to Home services, and help secure appropriate housing. For chronically homeless clients, the advocate builds relationships and uses motivational interviewing to encourage progress toward permanent housing. For non-chronic clients, the advocate uses available resources to secure other housing placements. The advocate always works with a partner and spends most of the shift in an automobile conducting outreach. The position responds to 311 calls and community concerns, participates in Code Blue and Code Red alerts, identifies new hotspots and encampments and works to eradicate existing ones, conducts bi-annual vulnerability indexes for clients in the catchment area, and enters required data into outreach databases. The position has a 35-hour work week.

Requirements

Two years of related work experience.
Bachelor’s degree or equivalent education and experience.
Knowledge of 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; maintaining a good driving record is a condition of employment.

Nice To Haves

Bilingual English/Spanish.

Responsibilities

Engage with all people on the street who appear to be homeless.
Create and maintain an active registry of chronically homeless clients, including non-chronic clients.
Conduct vulnerability assessments and bi-annual vulnerability indexes for clients in the catchment area.
Attend clinical supervision and training.
Develop and maintain records and databases, and complete required reports and data entry.
Communicate with team members through progress notes, program databases, reports, staff meetings, and weekly clinical supervision.
Liaise with other service providers on behalf of clients.
Collaborate with the Parks Department, NYPD, DSNY, MTA, and other agencies.
Respond to 311 calls and community concerns.
Participate in Code Blue and Code Red alerts.
Monitor encampments, identify new hotspots, and work to eradicate existing hotspots and encampments.
Use motivational interviewing with chronically homeless clients to encourage work toward permanent housing and help non-chronic clients secure other housing placements.
Perform other related duties as assigned.