Housing First - Complex Needs Worker

• Are you passionate about supporting homeless people to progress towards independence and independent living?
• Can you deliver support, along with empathy, to help them reach this goal?
• Can you assist people with complex needs, including alcohol and substance misuse issues and mental health concerns?
• Would you like to work with friendly, supportive colleagues where your ideas will be valued and you are treated with respect and kindness?

We are looking for a complex needs worker to join our newly established and successful Housing First support team within One YMCA. Housing First is part of the Rough Sleepers Initiative (RSI) in Watford, run in partnership with Watford Community Housing and Watford Borough Council.

Ideally, you will bring experience working in Housing First Schemes. Otherwise, you must be able to show that your approach to work aligns with the key principles of Housing First (below). The ideal candidates will have good experience supporting people with substance (drug and alcohol) abuse/misuse issues.

You will support rough sleepers adjusting to living in accommodation, with their move-in and resettlement needs and will provide intensive wrap-around tenancy sustainment support to prevent these individuals from returning to rough sleeping in the future.

This role involves frequent visits to support our service users in their homes, where you will attend without other colleagues being present.

• Housing First in an evidence-based approach to supporting entrenched & long-term rough sleepers to access & sustain long-term accommodation – a basic human right
• Housing First has no conditions or barriers for individuals to overcome in order to access a home – it is their personal platform to enable progression
• Housing First is specifically designed to support those with complex, multiple & overlapping needs – accepting & supporting personal choices
• You need to be fully flexible by being able to vary the support you provide at any time (from intensive to everyday support) in line with the basic principles of Housing First - it is fundamentally a choice-led approach, which fully respects the choices of each person and supports their self-determination at times that are convenient for them

Travel: This post requires you to be a driver with access to a car for work purposes.

Benefits: we offer a health cash plan contributing to medical, dental and optician costs; life cover; a pension scheme; and confidential lifestyle support and advice. We also provide free gym membership at our St Albans Community Gym.

Please remember to submit your application once you have finished (by pressing the \"Complete\" button on the final page) or it will be marked as incomplete.

An Enhanced Disclosure check is required for this role.