HOMES Housing Support Worker

Employment Opportunity: HOMES (Housing Support Worker)  

The West Central Women’s Resource Centre (WCWRC) provides services and programming to women, and gender diverse people and families in the West Central neighbourhood of Winnipeg. WCWRC is person-centered and practices empowerment, inclusion, harm reduction, multi-level, and community economic development philosophies to support women experiencing poverty, homelessness, mental illness, violence, substance use, or participating in sex-trade work.

The West Central Women’s Resource Centre is committed to inclusion and equity and strives to ensure that our staff team reflects the diversity of the community we serve. Indigenous peoples, Black people and other people of colour, persons with disabilities, persons of minority sexual orientations, gender identities and expressions, and persons with relevant lived experience are encouraged to apply and will be prioritized. We are committed to removing barriers to employment that are faced by groups that have been historically, persistently, and systemically marginalized and encourage (but do not require) members of these groups to self-identify as such in their cover letters.

If you require an accommodation for the recruitment/interview process (including alternate formats of materials, or accessible meeting rooms, or other accommodation), please contact us and we will work with you to meet your needs.

Position Summary: 

The HOMES Housing support worker will support women, and gender diverse people experiencing homelessness and/or housing and income insecurity through the use of a mentorship model.

Accountability: The HOMES Housing Support Worker is responsible to and will be supervised by the Director of Housing. To ensure appropriate accounting of hours worked, completed timesheets are to be submitted bi-weekly, by payroll date, to the Director of Housing. To enhance the staff team and to be accountable to one another attendance at staff meetings, program meetings, and trainings is required.

Salary Range: $21-$23/hour

Time requirement: 37.5 hours per week

Closing date: Open until filled

Duties and Responsibilities

• Make and follow up on appointments with participants that contact the centre for support with housing and income
• Conduct home visits with housed participants as needed
• Provide evening and weekend on-call supports to participants and landlords in crisis situations
• Meet with participants to complete intake form and other intake procedures
• Support participants to find and review housing listings, set up and attend viewings, complete housing applications, and gather other documentation needed to apply for housing
• Support participants to access Employment and Income Assistance or other appropriate income sources to secure housing
• Provide trauma-informed supports, safety planning supports, and crisis intervention supports to participants as needed
• Refer participants internally and/or to other service providers as needed including emergency and gender-based violence shelters
• Maintain positive working relationships with service providers and advocate to service providers on behalf of participants as needed
• Assist participants to use resources considering difficulty with language, reading ability, etc.
• Support participants to prepare for meetings, hearings etc., and accompany women, and gender diverse people to offer support and companionship as needed
• Administer the provision of housing start up, damage deposit, and emergency funds to support participants in securing housing when eligible
• Maintain accurate and organized files, statistics, and records of activity regarding work with participants
• Assist with reporting on deliverables to project funder
• Assist with other program duties such as filing, data entry, organizing events/workshops and outreach
• Participate in relevant WCWRC and community meetings with peers as assigned
• Support drop-in and other programming as requested
• Adhere to all relevant COVID-19 related policies and procedures
• Actively participate in WCWRC staff retreats, trainings and meetings
• In conjunction with other WCWRC staff, provide on-going informal support, referral and direction to community women and gender diverse people using the Centre

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

Essential:

• • Driver’s license and access to a vehicle is required for this position
  • Excellent advocacy skills and understanding of EIA and housing systems
  • Must practice participant-centred work and be able to work from a trauma-informed approach
  • Strong understanding of and ability to practice harm reduction
  • Ability to work within anti-racist and anti-oppressive frameworks and actively engage in ongoing learning about these frameworks
  • Excellent interpersonal skills
  • Strong written and verbal communication skills
  • Professional and responsible with sensitive and confidential issues
  • Self-motivated and able to work with minimal supervision
  • Excellent organizational and time management skills
  • Strong attention to detail and follow up
  • Able to use Microsoft office and outlook

Preferred:

• Completion of grade 12
• Experience working within the non-profit sector
• Experience working collaboratively with community organizations
• Strong understanding of empowerment philosophies