Housing First Project Worker

Solace Women's Aid; Camden Town; Hybrid; GBP 26,000 - 32,000; Full time

Job summary

Solace Women's Aid is seeking two Housing First Project Workers to join our Service and support women to sustain tenancy and regain independence. The role involves trauma-informed, solution-focused support with a small caseload, and advocacy with external agencies on welfare, health and other needs.

You will work primarily from Camden with one day per week at Head Office, and you will join a feminist, survivor-led organisation that values diversity and inclusion, offering flexible learning and

Qualifications

• Experience providing emotional and/or practical support to women who have experienced violence against women and girls (VAWG), homelessness, or multiple disadvantage.
• Experience of safeguarding practice and procedures.
• Ability to support women with complex needs.

Responsibilities

• Assist in day-to-day delivery of the service with a small caseload.
• Support women to sustain a new or existing tenancy.
• Provide trauma-informed, solution-focused support tailored to each woman's needs.
• Advocate for service users with external agencies regarding welfare rights and healthcare.
• Promote social inclusion and independence for women affected by violence.

Skills

Trauma-informed

Solution-focused

Empathy

Partnership working

Job description

Are you looking for a rewarding role working for Solace, an intersectional feminist organisation? We are looking to fill two positions of Project Workers for our Service. This could be an incredible opportunity for you to join our team as a Housing First Project Worker at Solace Women's Aid.

We exist to end the harm done through gender-based violence. Our aim is to work to prevent violence and abuse, as well as providing services to meet the individual needs of survivors, particularly women and children. Our work is holistic and empowering, working alongside survivors to achieve independent lives, free from abuse.

Our core values reflect our history and were developed in consultation with staff and service users. Feminism and intersectionality are key to our work, and we are committed to the principles of being survivor-led, trauma-informed, empowering, diverse, anti-racist and anti-discriminatory.

About the Service

Housing First is an approach to supporting the most entrenched, excluded, and vulnerable service users. It focuses on finding permanent housing as quickly as possible and then addressing the issues that have contributed to an individual’s homelessness. Support is provided through assertive outreach.

‘I want someone who I can do nice things with, too, not someone who just talks about what has gone wrong, or drugs and other things……I think about those negatives all the time anyway and I want a worker who I can feel positive with, happy’ (service user supported by another Housing First Project).

About the Role

In this role, you will assist in the day-to-day delivery of the service, managing a small caseload of service users with the overall goal of supporting women to sustain a new or existing tenancy. You’re confident in providing a trauma-informed and solution-focused support which tailored to each woman’s individual needs and aspirations.

The postholder will advocate, where appropriate, on behalf of service users with external agencies regarding welfare rights, primary healthcare needs and other issues affecting their health and wellbeing. You will also promote social inclusion, encourage independence, and help women with multiple needs who are affected by violence to develop personal resilience.

About You:

You will have some experience of providing emotional and/or practical support to women who have experienced violence against women and girls (VAWG), homelessness, or multiple disadvantage. As an experienced professional you understand the particular needs of women from diverse communities, including the barriers to accessing support faced by Black and minoritised women, and have experience of working in partnership with other agencies.

Your knowledge and experience of safeguarding practice and procedures, together with your natural ability to successfully support women with complex needs, will be key to succeeding in this role.

Additional Information

This is a hybrid role, with one day per week based at our Head Office in Camden. The remaining days will be a combination of providing outreach support to service users in the community and working from home.

What we can offer you

• Flexible working
• Focus on learning and development (internal career progression and training)
• Generous holiday entitlement
• Employer pension contribution
• Family-friendly leave and enhanced maternity pay
• Access to Inclusion Networks
• Daily clinical debriefing
• Employee Assistance Programme providing free 24/7 support and advice
• Employee Benefits Platform offering staff discounts, benefits, and savings
• Flow & Restore yoga classes
• Meditation sessions
• Cycle to Work Scheme

Solace Women's Aid values diversity, promotes equity, and challenges discrimination. We encourage and welcome applications from candidates of diverse cultures, abilities, perspectives, and lived experiences. We have policies and processes in place to ensure that all employees are offered an equal opportunity in recruitment and selection, promotion, training, pay, and benefits. Our Inclusion Networks support staff with protected characteristics and offer inclusive spaces to connect.

We anticipate and provide reasonable adjustments as needed andsupport employees who acquire a disability or long-term health condition, enabling them to stay in work.

This service is run by women for women and is therefore restricted to female applicants under the Equality Act 2010, Schedule 9, and Part 1. Section 7(2) e of the Sex Discrimination Act 1975 apply. The post is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act.

As part of safer recruitment practices, we carry out pre-employment checks including references, Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) and right to work in the UK checks.