What does a housing case manager do?
A housing case manager interacts with both individuals and families who have housing issues and connects them with emergency shelters. The case manager must assist homeless adults and at-risk youths in finding safe and affordable accommodation. They may also need to coordinate and manage the needs of housing units. They have to provide emotional support to clients, while helping them structure their finances and plan their life goals along a structured program. Compassion and empathy are a requirement of this position.
Housing case manager responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real housing case manager resumes:
- Manage IEP caseload along with ensuring that educational and relate services are provide for all students.
- Manage the care of patients with tuberculosis (TB) during their hospitalization and their discharge follow-up care.
- Assist clients with ADL's and IADL's.
- Maintain client relate data tracking system, including case notes and service notes in HMIS entries.
- Monitor and assist clients in ADL (activities for daily living), and instruct them in stress reduction techniques.
- Establish a therapeutic relationship with patients.
- Calculate statistic information for HUD grant matching incentive.
- Provide clinical oversight of the crisis stabilization residential team.
- Confirm income certification of eligible new tenants according to HUD guidelines.
- Provide oversight and development of operational budget and all policies and procedures.
- Demonstrate patients and understanding during crisis situations while monitoring and documenting patients behaviors.
- Handle housing placements and referrals for shelters, drug detoxification centers, rehabilitation services and other programs as appropriate.
- Provide case management/individual rehabilitation services for consumers.
- Assist individual members who are not involve with DHS to gain access to shelter or housing.
- Monitor client's entitlements, advocate and investigate all incidents, and submit reports to DHS.
Housing case manager skills and personality traits
We calculated that 20% of Housing Case Managers are proficient in Social Work, Crisis Intervention, and Management Services. They’re also known for soft skills such as Compassion, Interpersonal skills, and Organizational skills.
We break down the percentage of Housing Case Managers that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Social Work, 20%
Make referrals to supportive services such as job developers, social workers and health care, and other providers as necessary.
- Crisis Intervention, 8%
Perform on-call responsibilities such as providing crisis intervention and arranging for emergency services to staff and consumers.
- Management Services, 6%
Provided intensive case management services for homeless families living in scattered-site apartments in the Transitional and Permanent Supportive housing programs.
- Supportive Services, 6%
Identify and maintain relationships with other local organizations that provide financial and or supportive services for people at-risk of homelessness.
- Mental Illness, 5%
Handled the coordination and monitoring of self-sufficiency services for individuals with a mental illness.
- HMIS, 4%
Maintained accurate and up-to-date documentation around services provided and fund allocation in the Homeless Management Information System (HMIS).
Common skills that a housing case manager uses to do their job include "social work," "crisis intervention," and "management services." You can find details on the most important housing case manager responsibilities below.
Compassion. To carry out their duties, the most important skill for a housing case manager to have is compassion. Their role and responsibilities require that "social and human service assistants often work with people who are in stressful and difficult situations." Housing case managers often use compassion in their day-to-day job, as shown by this real resume: "provide assistance and support for adults with severe and persistent mental illness while showing kindness and compassion. "
Interpersonal skills. Another soft skill that's essential for fulfilling housing case manager duties is interpersonal skills. The role rewards competence in this skill because "social and human service assistants must make their clients feel comfortable discussing sensitive issues." According to a housing case manager resume, here's how housing case managers can utilize interpersonal skills in their job responsibilities: "position requires knowledge and ability in computer programs including ccms, peoplesoft, interqual, and good interpersonal skills. "
Organizational skills. Another skill that relates to the job responsibilities of housing case managers is organizational skills. This skill is critical to many everyday housing case manager duties, as "social and human service assistants must often complete lots of paperwork and work with many different clients." This example from a resume shows how this skill is used: "represent the school for recruitment events at community organization organizational liaison between parents, staff, students, and administration. "
Time-management skills. For certain housing case manager responsibilities to be completed, the job requires competence in "time-management skills." The day-to-day duties of a housing case manager rely on this skill, as "social and human service assistants often work with many clients." For example, this snippet was taken directly from a resume about how this skill applies to what housing case managers do: "provided academic, personal and family counseling and group facilitation negotiated with teachers for flexible deadlines for student's homework. "
Communication skills. Another crucial skill for a housing case manager to carry out their responsibilities is "communication skills." A big part of what housing case managers relies on this skill, since "social and human service assistants talk with clients about the challenges in their lives and assist them in getting help." How this skill relates to housing case manager duties can be seen in an example from a housing case manager resume snippet: "maintain ongoing communication with clients regarding housing, living issues and remaining compliance with mental health and medical appointments and medications. "
Problem-solving skills. While "problem-solving skills" is last on this skills list, don't underestimate its importance to housing case manager responsibilities. Much of what a housing case manager does relies on this skill, seeing as "social and human service assistants help clients find solutions to their problems." Here is a resume example of how this skill is used in the everyday duties of housing case managers: "assess housing barriers, formulate solutions, arrange financial assistance and develop housing stability plan with clients. "
The three companies that hire the most housing case managers are:
- Central City Concern170 housing case managers jobs
- Pine Street Inn19 housing case managers jobs
- The Salvation Army18 housing case managers jobs
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Compare different housing case managers
Housing case manager vs. Social service coordinator
A social service coordinator is responsible for assisting the essential needs of the citizens within a community by providing them financial assistance, employment services, and social provisions through coordinating with various organizations and social institutions. Social service coordinators conduct counseling to assess social needs and processing referral services for particular purposes. They also perform administrative and clerical duties as needed, responding to the citizens' inquiries and concerns, collecting their documents, and coordinating with the community office on planning livelihood programs and activities for social benefits.
While similarities exist, there are also some differences between housing case managers and social service coordinator. For instance, housing case manager responsibilities require skills such as "management services," "supportive services," "hmis," and "excellent organizational." Whereas a social service coordinator is skilled in "home health," "social service programs," "medicare," and "medicaid." This is part of what separates the two careers.
Social service coordinators tend to make the most money working in the professional industry, where they earn an average salary of $42,652. In contrast, housing case managers make the biggest average salary, $39,912, in the government industry.The education levels that social service coordinators earn slightly differ from housing case managers. In particular, social service coordinators are 4.4% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree than a housing case manager. Additionally, they're 0.2% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Housing case manager vs. Intake specialist
Intake coordinators manage the registration of clients or patients for medical services in a health care facility. They talk to patients and their families, determine their needs, and ask for patients' medical history and their mental and physical state. It is part of their job to obtain the insurance information of the patients. The necessary skills to become an intake coordinator include good writing and reading skills, good communication, and attention to detail.
While some skills are similar in these professions, other skills aren't so similar. For example, resumes show us that housing case manager responsibilities requires skills like "management services," "supportive services," "mental illness," and "excellent organizational." But an intake specialist might use other skills in their typical duties, such as, "customer service," "data entry," "phone calls," and "home health."
On average, intake specialists earn a lower salary than housing case managers. Some industries support higher salaries in each profession. Interestingly enough, intake specialists earn the most pay in the government industry with an average salary of $41,839. Whereas housing case managers have higher pay in the government industry, with an average salary of $39,912.In general, intake specialists achieve lower levels of education than housing case managers. They're 8.0% less likely to obtain a Master's Degree while being 0.2% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Housing case manager vs. Case manager/program manager
The duties of a case management coordinator depend on one's place or industry of employment. Their responsibilities primarily revolve around maintaining and organizing records of cases and transactions, processing documentation, organizing data, and reviewing cases using a particular software to identify any errors or inconsistencies. There are also instances when they must reach out to clients and assist them with their needs. Furthermore, as a management coordinator, it is essential to maintain an active and transparent communication line across different departments and areas, all while adhering to the company's policies and standards.
Some important key differences between the two careers include a few of the skills necessary to fulfill the responsibilities of each. Some examples from housing case manager resumes include skills like "supportive services," "excellent organizational," "supportive housing," and "homeless individuals," whereas a case manager/program manager is more likely to list skills in "foster care," "substance abuse," "social services," and "criminal justice. "
Case manager/program managers earn the highest salary when working in the insurance industry, where they receive an average salary of $40,445. Comparatively, housing case managers have the highest earning potential in the government industry, with an average salary of $39,912.When it comes to education, case manager/program managers tend to earn similar degree levels compared to housing case managers. In fact, they're 0.1% more likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 0.3% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Housing case manager vs. Case management coordinator
Even though a few skill sets overlap between housing case managers and case management coordinators, there are some differences that are important to note. For one, a housing case manager might have more use for skills like "management services," "supportive services," "hmis," and "excellent organizational." Meanwhile, some responsibilities of case management coordinators require skills like "customer service," "patient care," "care coordination," and "risk management. "
The government industry tends to pay the highest salaries for case management coordinators, with average annual pay of $48,125. Comparatively, the highest housing case manager annual salary comes from the government industry.In general, case management coordinators hold similar degree levels compared to housing case managers. Case management coordinators are 4.2% less likely to earn their Master's Degree and 0.5% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Types of housing case manager
Updated January 8, 2025
