Housing Navigator

**This position operates throughout the County of Riverside, providing intensive case management services to the assigned caseload.**

**About Path of Life Ministries**

Path of Life Ministries is a 501c3 organization, serving the City of Riverside since 1998. We have become a premier non-profit service agency committed to meeting the needs of the community by serving the greater Riverside area’s homeless, challenged youth and family population. Our strategy is to provide a holistic system of care provided in an integrated, seamless manner to individuals and families, leading them from a place of crisis to a life of stability and self-sufficiency. Our commitment to partner with community organizations and agencies contributes to a holistic, community based solution that improves the social, economical, and spiritual health and vitality of the impoverished, homeless, and at-risk individuals and families in Riverside County.

**Summary**:
Housing Navigation is a fast-paced and very hands-on job requiring high-levels of nuanced people skills, creativity with a solutions focus, and extreme flexibility as well as self-management by those who are comfortable in a wide variety of unconventional situations working with a very challenged population in scattered sites and in the field throughout the County of Riverside. Additionally, housing navigation requires a high level of detailed documentation and file work.

**RESPONSIBILITIES**:
**Supportive Services**
- Conduct screening interviews, complete intake documentation, and coordinate move in and exit of all program participants.
- Provide social work intensive case management and navigation services designed to assist participant and their families exit homelessness and move into permanent housing.
- Coordinate and identify appropriate resources and mainstream benefits that lead to permanent housing options for participants, such as subsidized housing Section 8, Shelter Plus Care, VASH, permanent supportive housing, affordable and market-rate housing, and other housing opportunities.
- Provide onsite intensive case management services in the areas of independent living skills, employment linkage, cooking groups, house meetings, social events, benefits establishment, and other services as needed to assist in reaching case plan and treatment plan goals.
- Provide guidance towards resources that help to increase participant income, including connecting them with employment services, Social Security resources, and other mainstream resources that may be available to them.
- Perform comprehensive intensive case management assessments and develop a plan of intervention that addresses need for housing, services, crisis intervention, and continuity of care planning and coordination.
- Respond to referrals and participant requests for intensive case management assessment and intervention within the required response time.
- Encourage and promote an environment that is strength-based to assist participants in meeting their individual goals.
- Use of personal vehicle to travel to scattered sites throughout Riverside County and transport participants.
- Work with, support, and help direct teams of volunteers giving direct support to your participants.

**Outreach and Relationship Management**
- Respond to and negotiate housing solutions with housing managers and landlords.
- Mediate disputes between homeless persons and neighborhood residents.
- Attend collaborative meetings.
- Network with other agencies, coalitions, and local community meetings.
- Actively participate in staff meetings and trainings.
- Maintain participant-related data tracking systems, including case notes, and complete HMIS entries with the support of the Chief Solutions Officer.
- Maintain an “On Call” status to respond to emergencies as assigned.
- _Other duties as assigned _

**QUALIFICATIONS**:

- Associate or Bachelor’s degree in Sociology, Psychology, Social Work or related field.
- Two years of related experience with case management services, housing, homeless and mentally ill populations.
- Computer skills with proficiency in Microsoft Office, Excel and (preferably) Access. HMIS training a plus.
- Extensive experiences working with individuals that are chronically homeless and/or homeless veterans.
- Knowledge of Public Housing Authority and Housing subsidies is ideal (ie, Section 8, Shelter Plus Care, VASH).
- Project a professional demeanor.
- Demonstrated ability to work independently and as part of a team.
- Strong written and verbal communication skills.
- Must maintain and execute confidential information.
- Highly motivated self-starter and ability to coordinate multiple projects/tasks simultaneously in a high-pressure environment.
- Ability to work with diverse communities and exercise mature judgment.
- Problem-solving and conflict-resolution skills.
- A working knowledge and practice of Motivational Interviewing, Trauma Informed Care, and the cognitive approach to providing socia