Rent Supplement Agent

JOB SUMMARY

Social Housing is responsible for the administration of the City's social housing and affordable housing post-development programs and services including the Centralized Waitlist, Asset Management and Capital Planning to assess the social and affordable housing portfolio and develop initiatives to support long term asset viability, Rent Supplement programs with private landlords to provide affordable accommodation to eligible low and moderate-income households, Housing Allowance program to qualifying low income households, as well as developing, implementing and evaluating housing policy to address municipal requirements.

You are responsible for the administration of tenant files at various stages of rent supplement program delivery by collecting information and confirming or determining the eligibility of applicants for new tenancies, monitoring the ongoing eligibility of tenant households, processing tenant vacates, administering current and past tenant arrears, providing information to clients related to housing assistance and other social services offered by the city and the community, and responding to enquiries from program stakeholders (landlords, service agencies, tenants and other staff) and liaising with various departmental staff, service providers and third parties (including government departments, employers, landlord supports and advocacy agencies, and the general public), in compliance with the Housing Services Act and with corporate, departmental and branch policy and procedure. You also contribute to the overall improvement of service delivery and work unit operations.   

EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE

Completion of 1 year community college or technical institute program in a business related field

Minimum of 3 years of experience in a business environment working with financial documents, database systems and dealing with customers, preferably in housing administration, or a social services related field.

Desirable Qualifications:
Operational SHAMIS experience is an asset

KNOWLEDGE

• Applicable federal, provincial and municipal legislation, policies and procedures (Housing Services Act, Tenant Protection Act, Co-op Corporations Act, Human Rights Code, Freedom of Information & Privacy Act, Fire Code)
• Social housing and other social support programs including Rent Supplement program policies and procedures
• Assessment, interviewing and case management techniques
• Data manipulation, comparison and verification techniques
• Standard corporate computer applications (e-mail, word processing, spreadsheet and databases, and presentation applications), as well as those specific to Social Housing administration, including Lotus Notes and SHAMIS
• Knowledge of applicable health and safety legislation, including the rights and duties of workers

COMPETENCIES, SKILLS AND ABILITIES

• Appropriately respond to enquiries from tenants/landlords
• Compose routine correspondence
• Plan and prioritize daily workloads to meet deadlines
• Strong administrative and organizational skills
• Perform detailed calculations, verify and reconcile data and figures
• Intermediate to advanced computer skills
• Communicate effectively with a wide variety of clients, obtaining or explaining detailed information as required
• Effective interpersonal and conflict resolution skills
• Work collaboratively as a member of a team or independently
• Work under pressure in stressful situations
• Flexible and adaptable
• Demonstrates initiative, reliability and judgement
• Willingness to establish effective working relationships with people of diverse cultural and ethnic backgrounds
• Demonstrates empathy and sensitivity to special needs of social services clients