Housing Specialist

Child & Family Services of Newport County; Newport (RI); Hybrid; USD 42,000 - 60,000; Full time

Job summary

Child & Family Services of Newport County is seeking a Housing Specialist to support families in securing and maintaining housing, within a resource-limited system. The role includes case management across Home Stabilization and Supportive Housing programs, and requires statewide travel in Rhode Island.

This hybrid position offers 20% remote work and emphasizes collaboration with realtors, landlords, and housing authorities to connect clients with subsidized or market housing options and

Qualifications

• High school diploma or equivalent is required.
• Experience navigating housing systems and collaborating with landlords is preferred.
• Travel statewide is required.

Responsibilities

• Provide case management for families in housing programs.
• Identify permanent housing options including subsidized housing and Section 8.
• Assist clients with rental applications, leases, and tenant rights.
• Help clients develop budgets and prepare housing documentation.
• Foster relationships with realtors, landlords, and housing authorities.

Skills

Organizational skills

Critical thinking

Time management

Communication

Diversity sensitivity

Bilingual Spanish

Collaboration

Education

High school diploma or equivalent

Tools

Microsoft Office 365

Job description

What You’ll Be Doing

You will provide assistance to multiple programs within the agency with knowledge of accessing and navigating a complex and under resources system of housing. The Housing Specialist will be focused on helping families maintain their housing, secure permanent housing, decrease the number of individuals and families experiencing homelessness, and minimize the average length of homelessness amongst these individuals and families.

Hybrid Role, 20% Remote Work.

Your Main Priorities

While additional responsibilities are likely to arise on the job, you will primarily:

• Provide case management services for families in our Home Stabilization Program seeking home finding services and home tenancy services.
• Partner housing support for families in the Supportive Housing Program
• Identify permanent housing options for clients such as subsidized housing, Section 8, and market rent.
• Provide support in connecting clients to other community resources
• Develop and maintains positive professional and collaborative relationships with realtors, landlords and public housing authorities to assist clients in accessing resources and housing opportunities.
• Assist clients with access to housing resources, searching for housing, filling out rental applications, interpreting leases and understanding tenant rights and responsibilities.
• Assist clients to identify a sustainable budget, understand how to read and interpret documents, and obtain personal documentation required for housing applications (i.e., birth certificate, social security card, valid ID).
• Works with a strength-based model incorporating the principles of family-centered practices.
• Provide training to clients in housing maintenance and independent living skills.
• Understands program client rights and responsibilities while assessing compliance and inspection readiness.

Who You Are

Requirements, Skills & Abilities:

• High school diploma or equivalent required.
• Experience navigating the RI Housing system required; background in property management, familiar with Section 8 voucher process and/or knowledge of low-income housing opportunities preferred; experience in Human Services, preferably with children and/or adolescents a plus.
• State wide travel is required.
• Strong organizational, critical thinking and time-management skills.
• Basic computer skills required; knowledge of Microsoft Office 365.
• Ability to communicate and effectively interact with a diverse population.
• Bilingual in Spanish strongly preferred.
• Collaboration and teamwork.
• Must authorize Child & Family to complete a motor vehicle records check.
• Must have valid driver's license, auto insurance and car registration.
• The ideal candidate will be required to meet all background checks and medical clearances required for the position.

Physical Requirements

Direct Service Staff:

This position requires time sitting, standing, walking, driving, carrying and lifting up to 25lbs. This role also requires operating desktop, laptop and/or cell phone, and communicating with colleagues.

Equal Employment Opportunity

Child & Family will not discriminate against any individual on the basis of age, gender, sexual orientation, color, race, creed, national origin, ancestry, religious persuasion, marital status, political belief, pregnancy, military status, veteran status, physical or mental disability that does not prohibit performance of essential job functions with or without reasonable accommodations, genetic predisposition or genetic carrier status, or any other protected category under local, state, or federal law, nor will anyone receive special treatment for those reasons, except for reasonable accommodation as required by law. It is our intention that all qualified applicants be given equal opportunity and that selection decisions be based on job-related factors.

Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services

In order to provide equitable service delivery and go above and beyond equal opportunity requirements, our organization is committed to ensuring that all staff are able to perform the following cultural competencies:

• Demonstrate the ability to communicate and effectively interact with people across cultures, ranges of ability, genders, ethnicities, and races.
• Demonstrate knowledge of the history of discrimination in America, particularly as it relates to race and racism, and how this history has led to disparities experienced by marginalized communities such as BIPOC, people with disabilities, LGBTQ+ communities, and others.
• Demonstrate the ability to successfully deliver culturally responsive services.

Affirmative Action

Child & Family strives to achieve a workforce that includes representation of qualified affirmative action group members in proportion to the qualified and available target group workforce in the community that we serve.