Position: Housing Program Coordinator

Organization: Salem County Inter Agency Council of Human Services

Location: 98 Market Street Salem, NJ 08097

Start Date: Immediate

Shift: Monday-Friday, regular business, 7- hours per day, with start time flexibility.

Hours: 35 hours/week

Rate: Depending on Experience

Health Compensation: This employer does not provide health insurance. In lieu of health insurance, we provide a $3,000 health insurance waiver allocated bi-weekly within your paycheck after a 90 day probation period.

Reports to: Executive Director

Organization Summary:

Salem County Inter Agency Council of Human Services (IAC) was founded in 1984 to administer federal and state human service and community planning grants.

A cornerstone of the county human service network, IAC facilitates communication, collaboration, and support for a thriving Salem County. IAC lives to participate in, involve, amplify, enrich, and strengthen the resiliency of Salem County communities and regional networks through locally driven solutions while administering state and federal human service planning contracts.

IAC convenes state representatives, county leaders, law enforcement, schools, health agencies, and other local service providers in meetings and collaborative work funded by various NJ State departments, the federal Housing and Urban Development (HUD) department, and private grantors. The local system needs we service predominately include homelessness; behavioral/mental health, disability, and substance use services for youth; youth at-risk of and involved in the juvenile justice system; the human services advisory council; and food insecurity and the local food ecosystem.

In addition to our foundation as an administrating agency of community planning, we also provide a direct assistance program for individuals and families experiencing homelessness. This is a federally funded transitional housing program known as the Leased Apartments Program.

Program Description:

Leased Apartments Program: IAC administers a transitional housing program through HUD’s Continuum of Care (CoC) program. In the transitional housing program, IAC holds 12 – 24 month leases with landlords. The leased units provide safe and stable housing for literally homeless Salem County residents for up to 24 months alongside supportive services case-management, to facilitate the household’s transition and advancement to permanent housing. The program pays a portion of participants’ rent in accordance with household income as it increases along with self-sufficiency. However, there are no income requirements to be eligible for an available unit. This program is a meaningful fit for Salem County where there is no emergency shelter offering temporary safety and stability for literally homeless individuals and families. IAC currently holds leases for five 2-bedroom apartment units.

Position Summary:

Manage the Leased Apartments Program, including both administrative and direct service aspects.

· 40% Record keeping/ policy & procedure coordination

· 30% Client case-management

· 20% Unit and landlord coordination

· 10% Outreach

This program is to be managed by a single, independent leader. As we acquire more units overtime, the need for additional case-management staff will be addressed. With just five units, both the administrative and direct service aspects of the program are to be managed within this one Management position. A comprehensive outline of the breadth of these duties is provided below. This could be a great opportunity for an experienced, senior case-manager who would like to advance to a position with more freedom to self-manage and develop, refine, and grow a program. This could also be a great opportunity for a person who has retired from their career in social services and would like to continue doing work they love at a less-intense level for full-time pay. This will be engaging and stimulating for someone who

· likes to think conceptually about programming

· can exercise empathy and accompaniment with a small case-load of hard-to-house families while also maintaining boundaries and holding them accountable

· likes to own their scope of responsibility

· has excellent time-management, organization, reading, and record-keeping skills

This program offers the fulfillment of seeing long-term impact achieved through the transitional housing, housing-first, model.

Duties and Responsibilities:

Record Keeping/ Policy & Procedure Management

· Maintain case-notes on all client interaction and supportive service work performed on their behalf.

· Maintain time analysis by activity to inform financial reporting

· Utilization of HMIS

· Attend HMIS Advisory Committee meetings

· Read, master, frequently reference, and initiate development and improvement of policies and procedures and working written tools of the Leased Apartments Program to ensure the program complies with HUD requirements and clients’ comply with the terms of their enrollment.

· Policy and Procedures and record keeping should serve as the fundamental activity that directs time-management for all other activities.

Client Case-Management

· Complete enrollment for participants accepted into the program by collecting required identification and verification documents, orienting them to the program rules and conditions, and creating their client case-file.

· Conduct an initial Permanent Housing Barriers and Assessment needed and develop a Supportive Services Plan in teamwork with the participant to achieve self-sufficiency and permanent housing. Identify what the client’s permanent housing options will be and gear Supportive Services Plan towards achieving that.

· Determine a schedule for ongoing communication and supportive service case-management meetings. Meetings should mostly be weekly during households initial three-months of enrollment. Conduct a benchmark assessment every three months.

· Assist households in progressing with their supportive services plan by providing referrals, conducting research to identify appropriate referrals, and assisting with their connection to the services they need.

· Ensure clients are connected to supportive services referrals through navigation support, enrollment support (i.e. paperwork), follow-ups with provider agency and/or client, advocacy on behalf of client to provider, etc.

· Identify, network, and develop working relationships with landlord, property managers, and community partners to identify and increase permanent housing options.

· Participate in learning opportunities to gain knowledge, skills, and best practices in providing effective case-management to clients working towards housing self-sufficiency.

· Participate in learning opportunities to build database of resources available for Salem County residents that may benefit LAP clients.

Unit and Landlord Management

· Maintain Unit files that contain documents such as the CO inspection, the lease, landlord information, and a running inventory of items purchased for each unit.

· Serve as point-of-contact for landlords

· Communicate regularly with landlords

· Prepare units for new tenants by scheduling services with vendors for cleanings, movers, etc. and conducting a Housing Quality Standards inspection.

· Prepare units with any needed furnishings and consumables for new clients

· Document client’s maintenance requests and serve as liaison for maintenance requests between landlord and client.

· Conduct random unit inspections to ensure clients are not damaging units and are in compliance with conditions of occupancy

· As program funding increases, engage with and orient landlords to the Leased Apartments Program to increase our number of leased units.

Outreach

· Manage the open screening and referral periods to add eligible households to the waitlist for the Leased Apartments Program

o Outreach through community provider partnerships and using Point-in-Time Count history to promote open screening and referral period to identify eligible, literally homeless households

o Receive and record referrals for eligible participants

o Conduct initial screenings for eligibility

o Notify submissions and their referral sources of determination

o Manage the waitlist of 10 households maximum.

· Conduct the in-person application and interview session for eligible households from the waitlist invited to apply when a unit is expected to be available.

· Chair the CoC Case-Conferencing Committee meeting

· Assist in coordinating the Salem County Point-in-Time Count

· Participate in CoC/CEAS meetings

· Rarely, but occasionally, table or attend a community event to represent IAC.

Opportunities for Advancement

This position has the potential to evolve into a fully administrative management position that would supervise case-management. The Leased Apartments Program is not currently at that level of service, with only 5 units and its level of funding from HUD. However, through successful program outcomes, capacity may increase.

Hard Skill Qualifications

· Bachelors Degree in Social Work or related field

· Demonstrated experience of supportive service, housing-related, case management

· Demonstrated experience of working with homeless and hard-to-house population

· Experience with HMIS reporting system preferred

· Knowledge of or experience working with programs within HUD’s Continuum of Care or HEARTH Act.

· Knowledge of Salem County landscape of communities and resource network preferred

Soft Skill Qualifications:

· The skillfulness and a compassionate disposition to work with the hard-to-house population, including the empathy and patience to accompany people through stabilization, but also the skillfulness to maintain boundaries and hold them accountable to compliance.

· Trauma-informed

· Self-management and self-directive

· Time-management and organization skills

· Strong reading and writing skills

· Knowledge of client confidentiality rules

· Know how to maintain self-care and client boundaries

· Motivational interviewing skills

· Advocacy skills

· Interact professionally with the public and represent the IAC professionally

· Maintain clean, organized, complete client files and records

· Knowledge of how to research available resources in a community

· Knowledge of how to advocate on phone calls with clients to obtain clear information about application processes, eligibility requirements, etc.

· Determination and patience

· Knowledge of Salem County population, communities, culture, and available resources

· Uphold integrity as stewards of resources entrusted to IAC for the well-being of Salem county residents

Job Type: Full-time

Benefits:

• Flexible schedule
• Mileage reimbursement
• Paid time off

Schedule:

• Monday to Friday

People with a criminal record are encouraged to apply

Work Location: In person