Housing Assistant

Housing Assistant

Pay Rate: $22.00 Schedule: Part-time, Thursday 9a-4p

Job Description: Allegheny County Department of Human Services (DHS) is seeking a part-time staff person to help people apply for and secure the vital documents they need for housing. This person will then complete the work of submitting, uploading, and tracking the documents; communicate with staff and clients about the status of documents and follow-up with them to gather the required information. They also will provide insights into how to make the processes work most efficiently so people can enter housing as quickly as possible.

Job Location: The Housing Assistant will work at one or more of the emergency shelters in Allegheny County (with the primary location in downtown Pittsburgh)--as well as at the Human Services Building in downtown Pittsburgh. Their work will require them to interact with staff at those locations and at the state and federal offices where they will walk to deliver and pick up documents.

Ideal Candidate: We are looking for someone who is mature in their understanding of why people may be homeless, respectful of them, including by listening well. This person will be someone who has a sense of urgency in their work (since delays in getting documents extend the time a person is in shelter when they may have been able to move into a place of their own). The ideal candidate is highly-organized, resourceful, and understands processes. This person will be very good at using the Sharepoint, Teams, Microsoft Forms applications that are necessary to enter information, upload documents, and communicate across a team of staff and with shelters. They also are comfortable communicating with clients about the status of their documents and will do so in a warm and respectful manner. They also will be careful in their work, since errors could extend the time it takes to get housing.

Job Responsibilities:

• Helps to staff the "document day" at one or more emergency shelter. On these days, they will work to assist clients in applying for replacement Social Security cards, Birth Certificates, and PA identification and Drivers' licenses.
• Completes all of the work required to submit the applications, including preparing letters for signature, assembling packages of information, preparing envelopes, scanning and uploading copies, and using a tracking sheet.
• Communicates updates on the status of each document to clients, shelter staff and the program leader.
• Helps clients solve problems related to their documents.
• Raises issues when they are slowing down the time for a client to get their documents; and proposes solutions.
• Acts independently in the best interest of the project and the clients, when necessary.

Qualifications: Preferred qualifications

• Experience in directly helping individuals apply for their records or submitting complex documents (e.g., completing COMPASS applications, doing their tax filings)
• Administrative experience

Minimum qualifications:

• Education: High School degree or equivalency
• Ability to demonstrate proficiency at all of these tasks:
• Merging PDFs
• Scanning documents
• Uploading files
• Using Sharepoint or equivalent to store files
• Writing emails that convey information correctly and clearly
• Using Excel or equivalent
• Experience: Two years of office work experience