Housing Coordinator

City of Chattanooga•Chattanooga, TN

9h•Onsite

About The Position

Incumbents in this classification are responsible for facilitating placing homeless individuals and families into housing. By developing relationships with landlords and property management companies Housing Navigator will work to be aware of viable housing units, and will use screening tools to determine fit of participants seeking housing and advocate on their behalf to landlords and property managers. The Housing Coordinator is a stand-alone position.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in social work or a related field, and three (3) Years of social work or human services experience; or any combination of equivalent experience and education.
Valid Driver's License
Knowledge of: motivational interviewing and practices; working with persons in crisis situations; local homeless service providers and resources for homeless individuals and families.
Skill in prioritizing work; prioritizing needs of individuals; analyzing basic data and reports; creative problem solving; situational awareness; handling multiple tasks simultaneously; collaborating with external partners; and, excelling in communication and interpersonal skills as applied to interaction with coworkers, supervisor, outside agencies, homeless neighbors and others, sufficient to exchange or convey information and to receive work direction; techniques of Non-Violent Crisis Intervention, or other similar program, to safely interact with people who may be mentally ill, abusing substances, or otherwise confused, aggressive or hostile; leadership to coordinate work amongst other team members.
Ability to work independently with minimal supervision.
Ability to work as a team member.
Ability to relate well with clients and staff.
Must meet regular attendance requirements.
Must be able to maintain good interpersonal relationships with staff, co-workers, managers and citizens.
Must accomplish the essential functions of the job, with or without reasonable accommodations, in a timely manner.

Responsibilities

Creating and implementing a recruitment plan for attracting new landlords and forming relationships with local landlords and staying up to date on the availability of affordable and supportive housing in the community.
Prioritizing and assigning clients to housing units.
Ensuring landlords maintain a healthy environment by upholding HQS/Inspire housing standards.
Making decisions as to which funding sources to use and then negotiate with landlords
Evaluating, approving and making recommendations for community outreach and education initiatives that would benefit the clients
Managing ongoing partnerships to work through barriers, recognize innovative opportunities, provide recommendations to leadership for system-wide decision making.
Coordinating with area service providers as to the location of homeless individuals and drive personal vehicles and walks out to remote homeless sites in the wilderness, under bridges, and in rural and urban areas to visit with homeless neighbors.
Finding, identifying, and works to establish a relationship with homeless individuals and families on by name lists.
Mediating with landlords, obtaining utilities and making moving arrangements when indicated.
Assisting clients in their search for housing, filling out rental applications, interpreting leases and understanding tenant rights and responsibilities.
Maintaining Client Records Maintains client related data systems, including case notes and HMIS entries.
Completing and submitting grant requests for housing funds to grants administration.
Completing HQS inspections and Lead Based Paint visual assessments to ensure compliance with HUD standards.
Preparing related reports including but not limited to: outcomes, and successes.
Maintaining a relationship with existing property managers/owners and establishes new relationships with those willing to house program's clients.
Working a flexible schedule to meet the needs of the program, staff and clients and to be responsive to changing environmental conditions which may impact homeless people.
Driving a personal vehicle and walks out to remote homeless sites in the wilderness, under bridges, and in rural and urban areas to visit with homeless neighbors.
Carrying a Caseload of homeless individuals and families while working to place them into housing.
Delegating tasks from caseload to outreach specialist.
Through visits with individuals experiencing homelessness, identifies new homeless individuals and families and gathers appropriate information to add them to relevant by name lists.
Regularly visiting homeless service provider agencies to build relationships with agency staff and individuals experiencing homelessness seeking services there, in order to effectively pass on necessary communication to homeless individuals and families on by name lists.
Researching resources offered locally in order to match homeless individuals and families with appropriate services, agencies, and case management.
Coordinating with other agency providers or organizations to secure in-kind donations if grant sources are exhausted or unable to be utilized.
Assessing, performs intakes, and works with people to address barriers to housing, creating individualized case plans to achieve goals; provides follow-up case management.
Following up and coordinates with agency staff regularly to ensure individuals and families proceed quickly into permanent housing.
Coordinating with landlords and drives individuals and families to look at possible housing opportunities in affordable housing units.
Coordinating and drives personal cars to transport individuals and families to necessary appointments that will help facilitate quickly getting individuals and families into housing.
Ability to work independently with minimal supervision.
Attending weekly housing group meetings to report on progress and be assigned new tasks.
Reporting on progress daily to Lead Housing Navigator.
Being available on nights and weekends to respond to clients in crises and provide necessary interventions by making crisis intervention decisions on how to prioritize the needs of the clients.
Meeting regular attendance requirements.
Maintaining good interpersonal relationships with staff, co-workers, managers and citizens.
Accomplishing the essential functions of the job, with or without reasonable accommodations, in a timely manner.
Performing other duties as assigned.