The incumbent serves as the Program Specialist (Housing Development Specialist) for chronically homeless Veterans in Palm Beach County (and all other counties serviced in the WPB VA Medical Center's (VAMC) catchment area). As such, the HUD-VASH Program is a key component in VA's continuum of homeless services, representing VA's means of providing permanent housing to homeless Veterans and serving a critical role in VA's Plan to End Homelessness among Veterans.

Duties

The incumbent is responsible for direct housing search assistance to Veterans in the HUD-VASH program. Direct housing search includes, but is not limited to, driving Veterans to or meeting Veterans at housing units both for viewing and walk-through purposes, providing housing lists to Veterans, assisting Veterans in obtaining move-in and security deposits as well as furniture and other household items, helping with rental applications and credit reports, and facilitating individual and group housing search classes. Major duties include but not limited to: Conducting housing seminars, ongoing development and maintenance of the homeless resource databases, participation in Homeless Program Operational Planning, attendance at VA and community related homeless/housing meetings, and program presentations. Working with Veterans in the field a minimum of 60-70% of the work week. Responsible for developing existing and future permanent housing resources as well as providing direct housing search assistance to homeless Veterans throughout the West Palm Beach, Treasure Coast and Okeechobee, Hendry, and Glades service areas. The development of future, permanent, and affordable housing resources will require coordination between the VA program and facility leadership, Public Housing Authority (PHA) executive leadership, independent landlords as well as rental associations, community, and government agency executive leadership, and/or leadership of corporations involved with the development of affordable housing The Housing Development Specialist (HDS) is an active member of the HUD-VASH Program and primarily provides housing development, landlord and homeless Veteran outreach, direct housing search, coordination of Peer Support Specialist(s) and volunteer driver pool and other support services for Veterans in the HUD-VASH program. Provides permanent housing development for Veterans in the homeless program by locating suitable permanent housing in the community, maintaining an inventory of safe, available units, communicating with landlords, and conducting outreach to prospective landlords and property management groups on behalf of homeless Veterans. Helps identify and develop housing criteria, identify potential barriers to securing desired housing, and helps develop strategies to overcome such barriers. He/she reviews housing placement progress and provides direct assistance to Veterans regarding housing-related issues. Responsible for educating individuals and organizations on the benefits of leasing to HUD-VASH Veterans as well as the role of the VA case manager in helping to promote housing stability for program participants. Conduct outreach to landlords. The HDS is responsible for creating outreach materials for landlords and working with WPBVAMC Public Affairs to draft and distribute HUD-VASH landlord related media articles. He/she is responsible for conducting landlord appreciation efforts and events, participating in public housing authority sponsored landlord outreach and appreciation events, and providing guidance to HUD-VASH staff regarding landlord/tenant issues, available permanent housing and housing-related community resources including move-in and security deposits, furniture, and other household items. Perform outreach to homeless Veterans as needed, including participation in homeless outreach and information sharing events. Other duties as assigned. Work Schedule: Monday-Friday 7:30am-4:00pm Telework: VA supports the use of telework as a way to help attract and retain talented individuals in public service, increase worker productivity, and better prepare the agency to operate during emergencies. This position may be authorized for telework. Telework eligibility will be discussed during the interview process. Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Position Description/PD#: Program Specialist (Housing Development Specialist)/PD03047-0 Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized Critical Skills Incentive (CSI): Not Approved Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized Financial Disclosure Report: Not required

Requirements

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 01/05/2024. Time-In-Grade Requirement: Applicants who are current Federal employees and have held a GS grade any time in the past 52 weeks must also meet time-in-grade requirements by the closing date of this announcement. For a GS-09 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-07. The grade may have been in any occupation, but must have been held in the Federal service. An SF-50 that shows your time-in-grade eligibility must be submitted with your application materials. If the most recent SF-50 has an effective date within the past year, it may not clearly demonstrate you possess one-year time-in-grade, as required by the announcement. In this instance, you must provide an additional SF-50 that clearly demonstrates one-year time-in-grade. You may qualify based on your experience and/or education as described below: Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-07 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: Knowledge of basic computer use, including word processing, spread sheets, databases, etc. is required. Knowledge of the VA computer system (VISTA/DHCP and CPRS), including the collection and management of clinical and administrative data is also required. Provides permanent housing development for Veterans in the homeless program by locating suitable permanent housing in the community, maintaining an inventory of safe, available units, communicating with landlords, and conducting outreach to prospective landlords and property management groups on behalf of homeless Veterans. Identify and develop housing criteria, identify potential barriers to securing desired housing, and helps develop strategies to overcome such barriers. He/she reviews housing placement progress and provides direct assistance to Veterans regarding housing-related issues. Responsible for educating individuals and organizations on the benefits of leasing to HUD-VASH Veterans as well as the role of the VA case manager in helping to promote housing stability for program participants. Perform outreach to homeless Veterans as needed, including participation in homeless outreach and information sharing events. OR, Education: Applicants may substitute education for the required experience. To qualify based on education for this grade level you must have a master's or equivalent doctoral degree or 2 full years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to such a degree or LL.B. or J.D., if related. (Transcript required). OR, Combination of Experience & Education: Applicants may also combine education and experience to qualify at this level. You must have a combination of specialized experience and education. (Transcript required). NOTE: IN DESCRIBING YOUR EXPERIENCE, PLEASE BE CLEAR AND SPECIFIC. WE WILL NOT MAKE ASSUMPTIONS REGARDING YOUR EXPERIENCE. Verbiage displayed on your resume or application must contain your own words. You may refer to the competencies located within the vacancy announcement, to assist with describing work experiences; however, resumes or applications received that copied verbatim from the announcement will be evaluated and may be reviewed as falsifying your experience or application. You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position: Administration and ManagementCustomer ServiceData Management Experience refers to paid and unpaid experience, including volunteer work done through National Service programs (e.g., Peace Corps, AmeriCorps) and other organizations (e.g., professional; philanthropic; religions; spiritual; community; student; social). Volunteer work helps build critical competencies, knowledge, and skills and can provide valuable training and experience that translates directly to paid employment. You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience. Note: A full year of work is considered to be 35-40 hours of work per week. Part-time experience will be credited on the basis of time actually spent in appropriate activities. Applicants wishing to receive credit for such experience must indicate clearly the nature of their duties and responsibilities in each position and the number of hours a week spent in such employment. Physical Requirements: Work is generally sedentary. For more information on these qualification standards, please visit the United States Office of Personnel Management's website at https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/classification-qualifications/general-schedule-qualification-standards/.

Education

A transcript must be submitted with your application if you are basing all or part of your qualifications on education.

Note: Only education or degrees recognized by the U.S. Department of Education from accredited colleges, universities, schools, or institutions may be used to qualify for Federal employment. You can verify your education here: http://ope.ed.gov/accreditation/. If you are using foreign education to meet qualification requirements, you must send a Certificate of Foreign Equivalency with your transcript in order to receive credit for that education. For further information, visit: http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ous/international/usnei/us/edlite-visitus-forrecog.html.

Contacts

• Address West Palm Beach VA Medical Center 7305 North Military Trail West Palm Beach, FL 33410 US
• Name: Nicole Lynch
• Phone: 701-239-3700 X4388
• Email: [email protected]