Part-Time Housing Coordinator

Part-Time Housing Coordinator - Dutchess County

Location: Poughkeepsie, NY

Schedule: 20 hours per week, afternoons preferred

Pay Rate: $23.07

Summary: The Part-Time Housing Coordinator staff will support the daily operations at the assigned location. She or he provides peer support for each housing participant enrolled in the program. The Housing Coordinator is available to instill hope, support wellness and demonstrate that recovery is real and does happen. Staff model and utilize trauma-informed techniques and tools, help guests set goals and engage in community and social events. The Housing Coordinator position will be a peer (personal lived experience/s with mental health challenges or substance use challenges) who implements PEOPLe, USA's Supportive Housing programs (MRT, OMH, HUD), helping people with histories of mental health challenges to live independent, self-determined lives in the community.

Job Duties and Responsibilities:

• Provides screenings to potential program participants identified through the local county's Single Point of Access (SPOA) process
• Educates potential program participants on who PEOPLe USA is, what the agency stands for (mission & core values), and how the agency's Supported Housing program operates
• Provides additional information on OMH, MRT, or HUD Supportive Housing guidelines and general housing
• Assists accepted program participants with budgeting, incl. rental costs, utilities, program subsidies, personal finances, and other related personnel costs
• Directly explore with participants housing rental options that suit their financial, environmental, and personal needs
• Assists participants in completing rental applications
• Assists participants in understanding all leasing contract components
• Assists participants in managing the moving process
• Assists participants in furnishing rentals
• Help participants to continuously budget their money sensibly to maintain their housing and other basic needs
• Regularly verify participants' income and budgeted costs to ensure that rental subsidies are up-to-date and accurate
• Maintains regular meaningful contact with participants (amount determined by participants), with no less than one (1) face-to-face and two (2) additional indirect contacts per month
• Educates participants on useful health & wellness topics, including but not limited to: Peer/Self-Help resources, Recovery from Mental Health Challenges (from a Psychiatric Rehabilitation perspective), Wellness & Whole Health (SAMHSA's Eight Dimensions of Wellness), Community Resources (across all domains of health, e.g.: physical, mental, substance use, socioeconomic determinants of health), Trauma & Healing, Wellness Planning & Prevention(e.g. WRAP), Natural Supports (developing/maintaining)
• Helps participants to identify barriers to their recovery journeys or personal wellness, including issues related to access, quality of care, people's rights, lack of basic needs, and stigma & discrimination
• Advocates with participants side-by-side to overcome identified barriers, making sure their voices are heard, and their decisions are understood and respected
• Builds peer-to-peer connections/relationships based on mutuality (shared lived experiences), empathy, and hope for recovery/wellness (peers-as-proof)
• Provides peer support, sharing stories, personal feelings, information, and strategies for living well
• Coaches clients to identify & accomplish whole health goals related to the Eight Dimensions of Wellness (emotional, social, physical, environmental, financial, intellectual, occupational, spiritual)
• Directly connects people to the services and supports they need through direct bridging/linking (as opposed to referrals only)
• Develops and maintains positive working relationships with other provider agencies, and local housing providers (landlords) within the county and its surrounding environs
• Documents all meaningful interactions in electronic records software and maintain hard copies in participants' files
• Regularly attend SPOA meetings, HUD Continuum of Care meetings, and other related meetings
• Consistently support PEOPLe, USA.'s mission to instill a sense of hope, empowerment, and self-determination in people living with mental illness that fosters recovery and a transition to wellness
• Align all behaviors with core values that promote trauma-informed care, customer engagement and satisfaction, mutuality & empathy, and a philosophical commitment that everyone can and will recover
• Staff must document their time in Paycor effectively. Staff cannot work over their positions allocated hours without Director approval.

Competencies:

• Technical Capacity
• Communication
• Thoroughness
• Customer/Client Focus
• Collaboration/Teamwork Skills
• Interpersonal Skills
• Computer Skills
• Organization & Time Mgmt.
• Mediation
• Resiliency & Flexibility
• Responsiveness & Calmness
• Ethical Conduct
• Results Driven

Supervisory Responsibility: This position has no supervisory responsibilities.

Work Environment: This job operates mostly in community settings, including each program participant's housing (scattered site). The job also operates in a peer-run non-clinical mental health care setting that includes professional office environments. This role routinely uses standard office equipment such as computers, phones, photocopiers, filing cabinets, and fax machines.

Physical Demands: The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to talk or hear. The employee frequently is required to stand; walk; use hands to finger, handle, or feel; and reach with hands and arms.

Travel: Travel is primarily local during the business day, although some out-of-area and overnight travel may be expected. This position requires up to 75% travel.

Required Education and Experience:

• High School degree or equivalency.
• Personal lived experience/s with mental illness or substance abuse.
• Clean & valid driver's license

Preferred Experience:

• Bachelor's degree
• Bilingual English/Spanish
• Significant demonstrable experience in health & human services

Additional Eligibility Qualifications:

• Must work towards or possess the following: New York State Certified Peer Specialist must be obtained within 6 months of hire.
• Certified Psychiatric Rehabilitation Practitioner (CPRP).
• All other training assigned to staff must be done in a timely manner.

Other Duties: Please note this job description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of responsibilities, duties, or activities that are required of the employee for their job. Responsibilities, duties, and activities may change at any time with or without notice. Reports to – Director of Supportive Housing