Housing Liaison

**The County of Huron’s**:
**Social and Property Services Department**:
**is seeking a**:
**Temporary Full-time (up to 1 year) Housing Liaison to Join the Team**:
**Position Summary**:
The Housing Liaison is responsible for working collaboratively with Social Services staff to identify housing opportunities for adults and families. This position is required to actively seek out, develop and maintain relationships with private and non-profit landlords to provide access to housing for households at risk of, or experiencing homelessness. The Housing Liaison provides support and education to clients on housing opportunities and tenant/landlord roles and responsibilities. Establishes a collaborative relationship with clients to provide support through coaching, mentoring, negotiating, and the utilization of conflict resolution skills and mediation skills as it relates to the retention of tenancies. The Housing Liaison is a member of the Social and Property Services team and works collaboratively with representatives of Social and Property Services, local community support agencies, and representatives of other nonprofit agencies. The Housing Liaison demonstrates organizational values and has a sensitivity to the diversity of the organization’s client base.

**What We Offer**:
At the County of Huron, we’re committed to offering a modern work environment that puts people first. We are a Certified Living Wage employer that values equity, diversity and inclusion. We offer our staff competitive wages and a comprehensive benefits package.

The County of Huron offers a diverse portfolio of employment opportunities. When you join our team, you’ll have the benefit of working with and learning from, people who have a broad range of skills and knowledge. We offer training, mentorship, and career development opportunities to all staff. When you work for the County of Huron, you invest in the community, and you benefit from seeing the results of your efforts firsthand. It’s a great place to work

**Role and Responsibilities**:

- Conduct outreach and marketing
- Develop and implement landlord engagement strategies with the intent of increasing safe and affordable rental housing for households at risk of, or experiencing, homelessness.
- Conduct outreach and marketing
- Develop and maintain ongoing relationships with landlords, managers and owners, with the intent of locating and placing homeless households into suitable and sustainable long-term housing; maintain a database of landlords and units.
- Negotiate leases on behalf of clients in collaboration with community agencies; work with clients and support staff during lease negotiation.
- Act as a liaison between the landlord, clinical teams, support staff and clients/tenants.
- Actively works to identify barriers clients face and to support clients to build the skills required to successfully obtain and/or maintain housing. Develop individualized housing goals in collaboration with clients to support these needs.
- Serve as the primary contact point for landlords, conducts unit inspections before and during the tenancy; assess damages and arrange for repairs.
- Address issues related to maintenance, health and safety, housing quality concerns, and rent payment
- Source and organize training and workshops for clients, including tenant rights and responsibilities, housing discrimination, finding and securing housing, communication with landlords and fair housing.
- Obtain appropriate consent, information and documentation in order to assess the situation.
- In coordination with the case manager, provide access to resources to assist clients during their move into permanent housing; assistance may include accessing rental assistance supplements and sourcing furnishings.
- Maintain working knowledge of various income security programs such as the Canada Pension Plan, Employment Insurance, Ontario Disability Support Program, Ontario Works and Old Age Security and assist clients and support staff with accessing the appropriate program funding.
- Promote harm reduction and foster collaborative contact with agencies that offer harm reduction strategies.
- Prepare and plan for “homelessness proofing” and re-housing. Includes recognizing and averting indicators that may destabilize a client’s housing.
- Participate in program meetings, and staff education and act as a resource for other staff.

**Qualifications and Education Requirements**:

- University degree in the Social Services field, or a college diploma in the Human Services Foundation or Social Service Worker program.
- Excellent crisis intervention, conflict mediation and de-escalation skills.
- Must possess excellent communication skills in dealing with a diverse client group, and excellent verbal, written and interpersonal skills to respond to requests in a professional manner.

**Preferred Skills**:

- A minimum of 3 years of experience in property management, housing management, and/or real estate is