Housing Counsellor

**Please note the difference between York region ( Richmond Hill, Newmarket, Markham, Georgina, Vaughan, Aurora,...) and North York which is in Toronto. This position provides services to the residents of those towns and not North York or Toronto.**

**ROLE**

Housing Counselor has a dual role in recruiting landlords as well as working with clients to help them find housing. This position requires providing information, advocacy and mediation, conflict management, follow up with landlords and networking with community agencies relating to the needs of the client.

**QUALIFICATIONS**:

- A Diploma or degree in Social Work, Social Service Work, or Community Service Work
- Minimum 1-3 years of experience working in social services field, preferably in housing field,
- Knowledge about community Resources, Mediation, Conflict Management, Partnership

Development
- Thorough knowledge of housing issues facing low income and homeless population
- Understanding of the Residential Tenancies Act as it relates to Tenants and Landlords,
- Mentoring and Networking with Community Agencies as they relate to Client Needs
- Must be able to speak one language commonly spoken in Region of York e.g. Chinese, Farsi, Korean, Tamil, Russian
- Experience in working with tenants and landlords and have an understanding of landlord and tenant act
- A thorough understanding of suburban housing and homelessness issues within York Region
- Able to facilitate workshops and information sessions on housing related topics
- Experience or familiarity with resources and services available within York Region and Toronto
- Oppression Framework to all of our clients and Landlord-Tenant Interaction
- Ability to multi-task and prioritize workload
- Excellent English communication skills, both verbal and written
- Standard First Aid/CPR Training is considered an asset
- Must have a valid driver’s licence and access to reliable vehicle
- Must be willing to travel within York Region and North York as necessary
- Occasionally working outside regular business hours; evenings or weekends
- Determine clients’ housing needs, identified during Intake Assessment to address any of the following issues:

- Discuss housing processes and resources and help clients develop a realistic understanding of what to expect with an emphasis on securing housing
- Educate clients about their rights and responsibilities, and train them to interview with landlords
- Facilitate workshops for clients on various aspects of housing
- Liaise with landlords and mediate landlord-tenant relations where necessary
- Create and maintain accurate and timely documentation for each new housing client
- Provide information on rental choices based on the clients’ income, family circumstances and other preferences
- Recruit landlords and register them into database
- Follow up with tenants and landlords and mediate to stabilize their tenancy
- Provide assistance with eviction prevention should tenant risk losing their housing and work with both landlord and tenant to stabilize tenancy
- Refer clients to community agencies who can provide services not related to housing help and can support the client’s needs
- Develop and maintain working relationships with housing providers, landlords, case managers and support workers
- Provide itinerant services from various offices in York region
- Maintain regular and accurate updates in database
- Other duties as assigned by manager
- Please note that this is a temporary full time position scheduled to work 37.5 hours per week. Benefits will be available after the completion of the probation period.

If you are interested, please send your resume with a covering letter to Mr. Shahin Fazeli Manager of

**Job Types**: Full-time, Fixed term contract
Contract length: 12 months

**Salary**: $42,000.00 per year

**Benefits**:

- Dental care
- Employee assistance program
- Extended health care
- Vision care

Schedule:

- 8 hour shift
- Monday to Friday
- Weekend availability

Ability to commute/relocate:

- GTA, ON: reliably commute or plan to relocate before starting work (required)

**Education**:

- Bachelor's Degree (preferred)

Work Location: One location

Expected start date: 2023-03-01