The Social Service Representative will serve as a Social Work Assistant and Housing Support Specialist for the Housing and Urban Development/VA Supported Housing (HUDVASH) program, a section of the Health Care for Homeless Veterans (HCHV) Service at the Johnathan M. Wainwright Memorial VA Medical Center (VAMC).

Duties

Act as a Liaison between all parties, including but not limited to the VA, Public Housing Authority (PHA), landlords, community agencies and Veterans. The incumbent primarily educates, helps and support Veterans in their effort to obtain necessary documents, fill out required forms, submit PHA packet information, locate suitable housing, and lease an apartment. This includes helping Veterans obtain necessary documents and filling out paperwork required by VA, PHA, community partners, and/or landlords to access services, obtain a housing choice voucher, and utilize the voucher to lease an apartment. This also includes: Create processes to expedite inspections, such as pre-inspections and/or rapid re-inspections. Serve as main Point of Contact (POC) for the PHA to ensure housing packets are complete and processed and voucher are process and issued in a timely manner. Create and establish systems to track each Veteran's progress through the paperwork requirements and process from entry into HUDNASH until housed. Serve as main Point of Contact (POC) for landlords to ensure applications to lease are complete, W9s submitted to the housing authority, and voucher is submitted to landlord. Educate landlords on homeless programs and HUDVASH operations and to navigate HUD and the VA homeless programs. Provide excellent service recovery after landlord and housing authority complaints of Veteran behavior including Veteran's failure to pay rent. Identify and contact landlords and realtors to find potential housing for Veterans to lease: Network throughout the 17 counties in the Walla Walla catchment area to create a pool of landlords, property management companies, and property owners who agree to provide affordable housing to Veterans with a HUDVASH voucher. Maintain an updated list of private and corporate owed properties where Veterans may qualify to live in high occupancy markets for Veterans. Build community partnerships and maintain rapport with Veteran's service agencies to locate and secure funding deposits and move-in costs. Develop and maintain relationships with civic leaders, housing authority and Veteran's agencies to propose local policies and procedures that promote Veteran supportive housing. Organize housing fairs in collaboration with local PHA to increase landlord awareness, interest and participation in HUDVASH. Know and understand the Housing Qualify Standards (HQS) used by local housing authorities during the inspection process. Upon request, conduct initial walk-through of potential rentals with Veteran to determine if the identified unit would require significant repairs. Work Schedule: Monday - Friday, 8:00 am - 4:30 pm Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Position Description/PD#: Social Service Representative/PD80393A 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 within 30 days of the closing date of this announcement, 07/23/2024. 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-07 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-05. 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. Note: Time-In-Grade requirements also apply to former Federal employees applying for reinstatement as well as current employees applying for Veterans Employment Opportunities Act of 1998 (VEOA) appointment. Applicant's must meet the following Individual Occupational Requirements (IOR): General Experience (for GS-5 positions): Three years of general experience, 1 year of which was equivalent to at least GS-4, is qualifying for GS-5 level positions. General experience is work in a social services activity or other organization that required the ability to conduct interviews; to collect and analyze pertinent facts; to provide needed information, advice, and practical assistance; and to prepare clear concise personal histories and factual reports. Specialized Experience: One year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower level GS-05. Specialized experience is experience in a program of direct social welfare services that required the application of program policy and operations knowledge in providing social welfare services and/or assisting social workers. OR Undergraduate Education: Successful completion of a full 4-year course of study in any field leading to a bachelor's degree, in an accredited college or university, is qualifying for GS-5 level positions. Graduate Education: Major study -- social sciences. One full academic year of graduate study is qualifying for GS-7. Graduate education is not creditable for positions above the GS-7 level. Note: Equivalent combinations of education and experience are also qualifying for grade levels for which both education and experience are acceptable. Preferred Experience: Experience in Behavioral Health You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position: Customer Service (Clerical/Technical)Information ManagementInterpersonal SkillsManages and Organizes InformationTransportation 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: The work is often sedentary. Typically, the employee sits comfortably to do the work. However, there is walking, standing, bending, carrying of light items such as papers and books, and driving an automobile. No special physical demands are required to perform the work. Work Environment: Work will be completed in a wide range of settings that the VA cannot control including, shelters, local soup kitchens, outside, in abandoned buildings, Veteran's homes, community agency facilities, and VA facilities. The incumbent must be able to work comfortably in all these settings and further work with a wide variety of persons, some who can be difficult to work with due to long histories of living outside and having complex mental health, social, and/or substance abuse issues. 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: https://sites.ed.gov/international/recognition-of-foreign-qualifications/.

Contacts

• Address Jonathan M Wainwright Memorial VA Medical Center 77 Wainwright Drive Walla Walla, WA 99362 US
• Name: Athena Houck
• Phone: 361-277-9613
• Email: [email protected]