Supported Housing Support Worker (YMCA DownsLink Group)

Job introduction

Salary: £27,770 per annum, pro rata
Contract type: Fixed-term 
Working pattern: Part-time, Monday-Thursday 9am-5pm

Closing date: Midnight 20 April 2025
Interview date: TBC

How to apply:

TO APPLY: Supported Housing Support Worker | YMCA DownsLink Group

Who to contact if you have a query:

If you would like any further information or an informal discussion about this post, please contact Abigail.Owen@ymcadlg.org. Should you require any assistance with our application process, please email us at Recruitment@ymcadlg.org.

About the role

30 hours per week / £27,770 per annum, pro rata / Maternity cover - fixed-term until 24 April 2026 / working Monday-Thursday 9am-5pm, (with some flexibility) based in Eastbourne, delivering Transitional Services in the community across Eastbourne, Bexhill, St Leonards and Hastings.

Our mission is to help children and young people have a fair chance to be who they want to be. We do this by providing a safe home, increasing life skills and self-confidence, and improving emotional wellbeing and mental health.

East Sussex Transitional Housing is a low-support service, providing safe, secure, supported accommodation for 102 young people between the ages of 18-25 who have been, or are, at risk of homelessness. We have a small, supportive, and established team which manages 19 housing properties across, Eastbourne, Bexhill and Hastings. We adopt a trauma informed and psychologically informed approach to supporting our residents to help them build essential life skills, identify their goals and work towards aspirations so that they can move on to enjoy fully independent futures.

We are looking for a Supported Housing Support Worker to join our East Sussex Transitional team. You will be based at the YMCA office in Eastbourne but will be visiting our seven properties around Eastbourne each week, meeting with residents in their homes and at the office - main areas of responsibilities are:

Housing

• You will hold a caseload of young people who are housed across our sites with the support of the team.  Support provided is light touch, and a good knowledge of partner agencies is essential for relevant signposting
• Interview young people to assess their suitability for our housing
• Support young people to manage their occupancy agreement and adhere to house rules in preparation for independent living.  Helping young people navigate shared living skills is key to this role and includes facilitating house meetings, rotas and cleaning sessions
• Support young people to keep up to date with all payments for rent and liaise with housing benefit
• Maintain up-to-date knowledge of housing and welfare benefits for young people
• Complete Occupancy Sign up and induction with incoming residents
• Deal effectively with non-compliance issues, such as non-payment of rent, ASB or breaches of Health and Safety, using restorative practices
• Contribute to maintaining properties to a high standard including conducting health and safety checks

Support and Engagement

• Light touch support to residents, signposting to partner agencies as appropriate
• Support each resident to develop their own person-centred Support Plan with short- and long-term goals to work towards independent living skills and their next accommodation steps
• Arrange Review Meetings with young people at least once every 3 months to update and review risk assessments and support plans
• Check in with each resident at least once a week
• Encourage a culture of education, employment and engagement
• Ensure consistent standards of safeguarding and Trauma Informed Practice when supporting young people, observing our safeguarding procedures, and keeping yourself and residents safe by respecting professional boundaries
• Maintain client records on In-Form (client database) detailing the young person’s journey in relation to their strengths and needs, any risks, and any outcomes (to monitor service performance)

General 

• Work as part of a team
• Treat young people at the service in a non-judgmental and psychologically informed way  
• Contribute to a great working environment, with a calm, yet assertive manner, being able to handle potentially difficult situations
• Participate in relevant continuing professional development and utilise Reflective Practice Supervision as part of leading psychologically informed practice
• Liaise effectively with other professionals and services

Please download the job profile for full role details.  

If you’re enthusiastic about this opportunity but your experience doesn’t align perfectly with every requirement, we encourage you to apply anyway and demonstrate how your experience is transferrable. You may be just the right candidate. 

This is a dynamic and varied role; you will be passionate about being involved in the support and growth of young people.

Experience and Knowledge

• Experience relating to housing, support work, and/or working with young people.
• Experience of working proactively with a caseload of young people with multiple and complex needs to enable them to achieve independent living.
• Knowledge of statutory and voluntary resources available to young people with multiple and complex needs.
• Knowledge of good safeguarding procedures in relation to young people and the ability to maintain effective professional boundaries.
• Demonstrated confidence and competence in recording notes/actions in service log, incident forms and health and safety check lists.

Skills and Abilities 

• Ability to communicate clearly both verbally and in writing for appropriate recording of a resident’s progression, and to evidence outcomes achieved.
• Ability to build and maintain strong relationships with all stakeholders, including signposting and advocating for clients as necessary.
• Ability to work autonomously, and use own initiative, as well as being part of a team.
• Clear verbal and written communication skills, good IT, and keyboard skills.
• Strong time management skills with the ability to plan and prioritise.

CLOSING DATE: Sunday 20 April 2025 at midnight

Additional information

Your starting salary will be pro rata if the above position is part-time or term-time only.