Housing Specialist

City of New York•New York City, NY

7d•$60,428

About The Position

The Administration for Children’s Services (ACS) protects and promotes the safety and well-being of children and families through child welfare and juvenile justice services and community supports. ACS manages community-based supports and foster care services and provides subsidized childcare vouchers. ACS child protection staff respond to allegations of child maltreatment. In juvenile justice, ACS oversees detention, placement, and programs for youth in the community. The Division of Family Permanency Services (FPS) ensures that high quality services are provided to children in foster care by supporting provider agency staff with technical assistance and other services for children in foster care. FPS staff offer guidance to provider agencies on child welfare policies and procedures to improve service delivery and achieve safety, permanency, and well-being for children in foster care. The Division includes the Office of Centralized Services, the Office of Youth Success Services, and the Office of Provider Agency Collaboration and Engagement. The Office of Youth Success Services (OYSS) works cross-divisionally with ACS' juvenile justice, prevention and child protection teams to achieve positive safety, well-being and permanency outcomes for children and families in the child welfare system through the provision of education, workforce readiness, job placement and housing supports. This position is in the Housing Academy Collaborative unit (HSS) within OYSS. The Housing Initiatives program is charged with administering various housing supports and options to NYC Children’s Services’ clients. The program is an access point for eligible agency involved persons to apply for priority assignment for NYCHA Public Housing, receive time-limited, supplemental financial assistance for market rate housing and/or receive financial assistance to offset housing expenses for families reunifying from foster care, young adults being discharged to their own responsibility and families receiving authorized preventive services whose children are at-risk of placement due to inadequate or unsafe housing conditions. Trainings and technical assistance are provided to ACS provider agencies, intra-agency staff, families, young adults in foster care and other stakeholders involved in maintaining the child within his/her family or facilitating young adults in establishing independent households upon release from foster care placement. New York City Administration for Children’s Services (ACS) seeks to hire one Housing Specialist to work under the direction of the Division of Family Permanency Services (FPS) leadership. The role of the Housing Specialist is to help youth and families to achieve stable housing. The Housing Specialist will work closely with various foster care agencies to process eligible youth and ACS-involved families for housing opportunities and subsidies. S/he will coordinate with various City agencies (e.g. NYC DHS, HRA, DSS, HPD, and NYCHA) to support permanency and housing stability.

Requirements

THESE POSITIONS ARE ONLY OPEN TO CANDIDATES WHO ARE PERMAMENT (NOT PROVISIONAL) IN THE CHILD WELFARE SPECIALIST CIVIL SERVICE TITLE
CHILD WELFARE SPECIALIST - 52369
A baccalaureate degree from an accredited college including or supplemented by 24 semester credits in one or a combination of the following fields: social work, psychology, sociology, human services, criminal justice, education (including early childhood), nursing, or cultural anthropology, with at least 12 of these credits in one discipline.
Upon satisfactory completion of six months of training and experience at Assignment Level I, an employee shall be assigned to Assignment Level II.
Upon completion of one year of satisfactory experience at Assignment Level II of Child Welfare Specialist and satisfactory completion of the probationary period an employee shall receive no less than the minimum salary after 18 months in title.
To be appointed directly to Assignment Level II, a candidate must have, in addition to meeting the minimum qualification requirements set forth above, one year of satisfactory child welfare casework experience.

Nice To Haves

Working knowledge of housing resources (NYCHA public housing, supportive housing, city and federal voucher programs and HRA public benefit programs
Working Knowledge of Excel for data tracking
Must have excellent communication, analytical, customer service and organizational skills
Knowledge of CONNECTIONS, WMS and CURRENT system

Responsibilities

Processing NYCHA electronic public housing applications via the NYCHA online portal for N-0 priority for youth aging out of foster care.
Supporting contracted agencies with process and submission of supportive housing applications in the Coordinated Assessment Placement System (CAPS).
Working collaboratively with Foster Care agency’s case planner, housing specialist and Fair Futures’ coach to recommend and explore viable housing options for youth and offer guidance around housing resources (including vouchers)
Support with processing Section 8 applications (HPD/NYCHA) when available
Respond to inquiries related to housing application statuses and taking necessary steps to attain resolution for all housing related matters.
Participate in training, workshops, office hours and offers technical assistance for clients, internal/external stakeholders and foster care providers.
Interface with relevant parties (i.e. contracted provider agency staff, FCLS, advocates, housing navigation provider) to recommend and/or work to resolve housing issues.
Participate in meetings and/or presentations to support ACS’ housing unit
Support contracted agencies with ACS Housing Subsidy Grant and presumptive budget letter request
Review CITYFHEPS application via the DSS CURRENT system
Case conferencing with youth/families, contracted providers and external stakeholders to support with transition to independent living and housing stability
Provide housing support and guidance to internal ACS stakeholders (CCS21+, Older Youth Services, College Choice, Office of Shared Response)
Perform other related duties.