Homeless Strategy Specialist

ABOUT OUR OPPORTUNITY:

The City of Asheville is seeking a full-time, motivated, experienced, and passionate professional to join the Homeless Strategy Division within the Housing and Economic Development Department.  The Homeless Strategy Division focuses on the City’s role as the designated Lead Agency for the Asheville-Buncombe Continuum of Care (CoC), a community-based collaborative planning body coordinating homelessness response.  In this capacity, the Homeless Strategy Division provides backbone support to the CoC Board, Membership, Committees, and Work Groups.  

This position will manage a portfolio of initiatives and serve as primary staff to multiple Committees, working closely with Chairs on planning, executing relevant processes, and handling all administration.  We are looking for a team member who can work independently as well as collaboratively and who is driven to further the CoC’s work.

• Leads collaborative planning efforts and system integration initiatives to coordinate clinical care and homeless services. Serves as the primary liaison between the continuum of care and physical, behavioral, and community health systems. Facilitates the development of community-wide networks and strategic interventions, including the administration and planning of specialized funding sources to address intersecting public health and housing crises.
• Manages comprehensive data collection, analysis, and reporting utilizing enterprise management information systems. Recruits and onboards participating agencies, oversees ongoing data quality improvement, and submits cyclical federal, state, and local reports. Co-leads the development of system performance benchmarks, analyzes outcomes, and collaborates with internal departments to maintain public-facing dashboards.
• Administrates annual funding cycles, grant applications, and administrative processes for targeted continuum of care and emergency solutions programs. Develops and manages annual operational calendars, oversees specialized funding contracts, and coordinates all related documentation to ensure the quality and completeness of final submissions to overarching regulatory bodies.
• Conducts ongoing compliance monitoring and evaluation of funded projects and regional grantees. Performs annual system evaluations, including race equity assessments and coordinated entry evaluations. Maintains deep expertise in applicable regulations, completes environmental reviews, and ensures all community and departmental activities meet federal and local requirements.
• Develops and delivers comprehensive training programs and technical assistance to community members, stakeholders, and service providers. Identifies capacity-building needs, creates responsive training materials, and manages an annual training calendar to ensure consistent, accessible education on behavioral health interventions, system onboarding, and policy implementation.
• Researches and implements best practices to continuously improve overarching service system operations. Convenes and facilitates community meetings, workgroups, and governance boards, providing necessary staff support and presenting educational materials. Identifies strategic initiatives to improve outcomes and actively manages resulting projects from needs assessment through implementation.

• Bachelor's degree with major work in human services, social sciences, project management, community development, or related field, or an equivalent combination of education and experience. 
• Three (3) years of relevant experience (5 preferred) in homeless or housing services, such as nonprofit work, social work, or project planning