Full-time Housing First Case Manager (Island-wide)

JOB DESCRIPTION: HOUSING FIRST CASE MANAGER

Status: Exempt Reports To: Team Leader

A Housing First Case Manager is an organized and trained professional that acts as a positive change agent in holistically assisting 15-20 individuals/families most often living with issues such as severe and persistent mental health disorders, chronic illness, brain injury, and/or substance use disorders, in achieving and maintaining housing while concurrently promoting awareness and teaching strategies that reduce the likelihood of a return to homelessness in the future.

Housing First Case Management is defined as: structured and active professional care that facilitates access to resources to improve housing and life stability through brokering and advocacy for services, based upon an assessment of needs. The case management services are intended to provide the direct, hands-on assistance that service users require to achieve greater independence in their life, as case managers work with service users on their journey. Case management services are provided in the natural settings of the people supported – from streets and shelters through to people’s homes. Case managers are accountable to end users of services, peers, and the community. The case managers ethically perform duties in accordance with the main currents of thought and practice in housing-based supports and in accordance with professional standards.

Using a multi-disciplinary skill set, the Housing First Case Manager must be able to exercise the following skills:

• Execute services to program standards;
• Ensure that services are provided in a safe, respectful, and effective manner;
• Communicate effectively with local community and external agencies to provide wrap around services, and foster relationships which enable needed resources to be accessed;
• Attend assigned community and other stakeholder meetings and advocate for client and program needs, including organizing or participating in case conferences as appropriate;
• Coordinate provision of goods and services within the organization as well as other programs within the community;
• Conduct a Renter’s Education course at the initial home visit, or within 30-days of housing placement;
• Conduct home visits and phone contact each month per individual/household to assess and monitor housing stability;
• Document program participant outcomes, including electronic and hard-file records, ensuring that data is entered accurately, in a timely manner, and in accordance with agency and regulatory standards, and funder requirements;
• Complete reports and other program administrative duties in a timely manner;
• Provide internal and external presentations on the program, its intentions and its results;
• Resolve complex community issues involving the program and its participants;
• Model effective Housing First Case Management techniques and strategies including: Motivational Interviewing, Assertive Engagement, Stages of Change, De-escalation, and Active Listening;
• Assess risks and develop appropriate plans to help ensure continuation of service;
• Help participants establish goals and an individualized service plan;
• Knowledge and practice-understanding of mental health issues, trauma-informed care, mental health and addiction assessments, client-centered treatment;
• Excellent communication skills in all mediums;
• Respond to crisis situations in a calm and professional manner, ensuring the safety of clients and staff. Collaborate with the Housing Locator to mediate landlord/tenant issues. Provide crisis debriefing after incidents, as appropriate.
• Achieve knowledge of the contracts and grants working under;
• Actively participate in staff meetings and trainings;
• Other duties as assigned.

The Housing First Case Manager must be able to fulfill duties in accordance with the Housing First approach, including:

• Housing as the first essential step, without any requirements for sobriety, participation in treatment, medication protocol, compliance, or demonstrated “housing readiness”;
• Recovery orientation related to mental wellness and cognitive functioning;
• Reducing harm to the individual and broader community;
• Remaining non-judgmental in behaviors, practices, beliefs and actions of service participants;
• Promoting and empowering meaningful choices and service access options, as well as allowing the service participant to influence the type, duration, frequency and intensity of supports;
• Absence of coercion, tricks or contracting;
• Supporting greater independence overtime;
• Professional relationship without dependency that supports “doing with” instead of “doing for”;
• Expressing empathy and positivity;
• Remaining future oriented, not anchored to past events, with a strong sense of promoting hope and possibility in a realistic manner;
• Transparency and disclosure of information with the service participant using full informed consent;
• Balancing the needs of the client, community and landlord in each situation; The right to refuse or revoke services and/or seek restitution or grieve instances where they feel services are inappropriate or inadequate.
• Be available to work 24 hours a day, 7 days a week should an issue arise involving accessing emergency health care, mental health crisis, and/or public safety services immediately in situations that present an imminent risk to participant or staff health and/or safety;

The Housing First Case Manager must have a considerable knowledge and expertise in the areas of:

• Legal requirements and risks to perform this type of work, including the relevant legislation that impacts decision-making in particular situations;
• Rental housing and requirements of tenants and landlords bylaw;
• Homelessness, especially chronic homelessness;
• Dependency on substances;
• Aboriginal culture and impacts on cultural identity;
• Economic poverty;
• Income support services;
• Child welfare;
• Health care, mental health care, and addiction services;
• Harm reduction;
• Trauma and abuse;
• Domestic and intimate partner violence (victim and perpetrators);
• Life changes and ageing;
• Fetal alcohol spectrum disorders;
• Brain injuries;
• Privacy and confidentiality;
• Self-care;
• Corrections and criminal justice.

In the course of performing the duties of the Housing First Case Manager it is not uncommon to see, engage or be confronted with first hand – or have staff encounter first hand – the following: violence and threats of violence; profane, racist and/or sexist language; bodily fluids; conflict; interactions with First Responders; alcohol and other street drugs; cigarette smoke; death of service participants or her/his associates; nudity of service participants or her/his associates; friends/family dynamics with service participants; people involved with sex work; people involved in the drug trade; persons used against their consent, will or knowledge; people in conflict with the law; and/or other situations that may be unsettling. Measures are taken to train staff to appropriately deal with these situations, but those in the position should reasonably expect these types of things to occur and the Housing First Case Manager must provide appropriate direction and support to these situations.

Minimum Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s Degree in Human Services field or human services related field and two years of related experience. (scan and attach your official college transcript to your resume)
• A Master’s degree may substitute years of experience.
• Current driver’s license and traffic abstract.
• Personal vehicle with current safety check, registration and minimum no-fault insurance coverage.
• Availability to work occasional evening and weekend shifts

Candidates must display and/or demonstrate physical ability to:

• Climb and/or walk up and down stairs and/or walkways.
• Sit for periods of up to 30 minutes at a time.
• Walk and/or standing for up to 30 minutes at a time.
• Lift, carry, pull and/or push items up to 30 pounds at a time and for short distances. Such motions may include reasonable bending, stooping, reaching and twisting.

Starting Annual Pay: $47,840.00