Case Worker - Harm Reduction

Employment Type: Full-Time, Permanent

Position Status: Vacant

Work Hours: 35 hours per week (Housing programs operate 24/7 - rotating shifts including evenings, holidays, weekdays and weekends; shares on-call responsibilities or provides emergency coverage in compliance with workplace health and safety standards)

Salary: $59,399 annually (L7), plus comprehensive benefits

Location: 389 Church Street Toronto, Ontario M5B 2E5

Internal Final date to receive applications: Wednesday, March 11, 2026

External Final date to receive applications: Friday, March 13, 2026

Join YWCA Toronto, where intersectional feminism, community voices, and social justice drive lasting change. We welcome women and gender diverse people of all identities into a workplace rooted in equity, collaboration, and inclusion.

The Harm Reduction – Caseworker is responsible for leading the design and implementation of programming that promotes harm reduction principles and approaches that empower tenants and tenant‑led initiatives. The goal of the position is to create an inclusive community, encourage participation in the broader community, and develop effective harm reduction strategies to meet the emotional, practical and social support needs of the tenants and the community as a whole.

The Caseworker also supports tenancy retention through eviction prevention, developing and implementing community development initiatives, with the goal of creating a dynamic and inclusive community.

YWCA Toronto Church Street facility includes 120 units of permanent housing. The Case Worker is responsible for providing case management support to women and gender diverse people including: individuals with complex mental health issues and who are chronically homeless or at risk of homelessness; individuals transitioning from provincially‑funded institutions and service systems such as hospitals or prisons;
Indigenous women/two‑spirit people. The program goals include housing stabilization, harm reduction and health promotion. Individual and group support assists tenants to identify and build the skills required to address the barriers they experience in their lives and to maintain their housing.

• Uses effective eviction prevention measures to assist tenants to assume and maintain their tenancy obligations;
• Uses harm reduction principles in facilitating and supporting tenant‑centered activities (e.g. tenant committees related to areas of importance for residents such as safety, health and wellness, building‑related issues, housing stability, etc.);
• Provides harm reduction strategies that will empower individuals as they address issues related to substance use, mental health, health and wellness and housing;
• Provides crisis prevention, intervention and counseling for women and children and gender diverse people to respond to crisis in ways that support individual and community well‑being;
• Engages individuals in identifying needs, developing treatment plans, and assists tenants to problem‑solve and access relevant community support plans that identify ongoing housing and mental health/addictions support;
• Works with a tenant support network and referral partners to develop individualized support plans that identify ongoing housing and mental health/addictions support;
• Creates and delivers programming specifically designed to build community capacity with the use of a harm reduction framework that will give individuals and groups of residents the opportunity to develop and use harm reduction strategies in all aspects of their lives (health, relationships, independent life skills, housing, etc.).

• General knowledge of an academic or technical discipline normally acquired through the completion of an undergraduate degree (example: Bachelor of Social Work in mental health and health field, Occupational Therapy, etc.) (Cases for Equivalency will be considered);
• 3 - 5 years’ experience working in a supportive housing setting in a direct service setting with children, youth and adults who experience impacts of poverty, homelessness/under‑housing, violence/trauma,…