Tenancy Sustainment Officer (National Housing Strategy for Disabled People)

Louth/ Meath/ Cavan/ Monaghan

REF:  Cara LMCM

Job title:Tenancy Sustainment Officer, funded under the National Housing Strategy for Disabled People, (NHSDP) 2022 - 2027

Location: Louth, Meath, Cavan & Monaghan with possible work in neighbouring counties & periodic travel to Dublin. The role is primarily an outreach role; however,  you will also be required to attend at HAIL’s offices for meetings, company events and training at the request of line management on a regular basis

Responsible/Reporting to: Cara Service Manager

Job purpose: To provide tenancy sustainment services to clients where Mental Health is their primary presenting need in Local Authority and Approved Housing Body tenancies.  Overall  aim to sustain tenancies and promote mental health recovery in a community context.

Salary Scale: €36,521.33 - €45,610.13

Job Information: Specified Purpose Contract for the duration of the Mental Health Tenancy Sustainment Officer Project under the National Housing Strategy for Disabled People 2022-2027 (subject to review and funding).  

This is a full-time post, 35 hours per week over five days, Monday to Friday. Some evening/out of hours work may be required on an occasional basis.

Housing Association for Integrated Living (HAIL) has been operating since 1985, providing high-quality independent social housing with specialist mental health tenancy sustainment supports.  HAIL provides homes to people with long-term mental health support needs as well as general needs social housing.   Our visiting tenancy sustainment model supports people to live independently and be integrated in the community. 

This promotes autonomy, recovery, stability and full participation in society within regular housing settings rather than institutional environments. 

HAIL currently owns 486 homes, approximately 70% of which are for people with mental health support needs and 30% for general needs tenants. 

Job Purpose Summary

Reporting to the Cara Service Manager, the Tenancy Sustainment Officer will form part of HAIL’s Cara Visiting Tenancy Support Service Team. 

The Tenancy Sustainment Officer will be primarily responsible for supporting individuals with psychosocial and mental health difficulties to maintain their tenancy.  The role will require close collaboration with local authorities, other Approved Housing Bodies and HSE Mental Health Services.  Engagement with a wide range of local voluntary and statutory agencies will also be necessary to ensure tenants have access to appropriate Community Supports to facilitate independent living.

Key Roles & Responsibilities

• To support clients to establish and/or maintain their tenancy where a past history of homelessness, institutionalisation, complex social issues or insecure tenancies have been a factor in their life.  
• In conjunction with the referring agent, and the client himself/ herself, to develop a comprehensive support plan that assists the client in sustaining their tenancy
• To support the client to develop a fuller awareness of his/her potential, skills, interests and talents.
• To support the client to integrate into the wider community as appropriate with the aim of reducing isolation.
• To support the client to access training, education and employment opportunities as appropriate.
• To provide advice and assistance to clients in matters relating to their tenancies such as budgeting, social welfare benefits, managing utilities, practical household skills, etc.
• To support the client in meeting their responsibilities with regards to payment of rent and other bills
• To link with Community Mental Health Team in order to contribute to an integrated case management approach. 
• To support the client to maintain their home to a reasonable standard, including reporting repairs/ faults in a timely manner.
• To support the client to understand their rights and responsibilities as tenants, as outlined in their tenancy agreement which is registered with the Residential Tenancy Board (RTB). 
• To attend meetings and case reviews as appropriate.

Stakeholder Engagement and Management

• To work closely with clients' families, GP, Mental Health team and other key stakeholders in order to sustain a client’s tenancy
• To maintain relationships and ensure accountability to funding bodies.
• To work in a respectful, coordinated and integrated way with other statutory and voluntary agencies, and within local communities in order to support a client’s mental health recovery 
• To take part in committees both internal and external in line with HAIL’s strategic goals.

Administrative and other duties

• Maintain high quality, secure client records in line with organizational policy and procedure.
• To utilize PASS to record client service admission and relevant subsequent outcomes. 
• To ensure each client has a completed Needs Assessment, Risk Assessment, Support Plan, and all associated documentation which is reviewed as appropriate 
• To keep and maintain recorded daily interventions and outcomes notes. 
• To assist the Services manager in the collation of monthly statistics 
• To attend and actively participate in internal/external meetings, training events, conferences and other functions as directed by the Services Manager 
• To participate in regular supervision and annual appraisal, and help in identifying your own job-related development and training needs.
• To ensure that all HAIL policies and procedures are being adhered to, particularly those relating to Health and Safety, Complaints, Code of Practice and Confidentiality.
• Any other duties as deemed appropriate and necessary by line management
• From time to time you may be asked to cover for other staff as appropriate.

Conditions

The salary will be commensurate with the experience of the individual appointed and in line with the Organisation’s salary scale & the funding outlined by the terms and conditions of the funding body.

HAIL offers:

• Flexible working hours – our core hours are 10am-4pm.
• 24 annual leave days plus 3 Company days
• Company Pension Scheme with current contributions rates of 6% employer contribution and 6% employee contribution
• Death in Service Benefit
• Health insurance for serious illness
• Training and development
• Paid expenses

Appointment

• Posts will be filled immediately. 
• All contracts are subject to references, garda vetting & successful completion of six-month probationary period.

Please note these posts are jointly funded by the HSE and the Housing Agency for the period up to the end of 2027.