POSITION TITLE: Homeless Shelter Staff
REPORTING TO: Executive Director
DURATION: LTE Nov 1, 2026 – March 31, 2027
FLSA CLASSIFICATION: Hourly, $22 – 25/hour or full time salary position
Deadline to Apply: September 25, 2026
How to apply: Send a resume AND cover letter to office@madisonstreetmedicine.org.
If a cover letter is not included you will not be considered for the position.
Summary:
The Overnight Shelter Support Staff member provides compassionate, trauma-informed, and non-judgmental support to people experiencing houselessness in a hotel or congregate shelter setting. Working alongside at least one other team member during evening, overnight, and weekend hours, this position helps maintain a safe, welcoming, and supportive environment for program participants.
The ideal candidate is someone who is passionate about ending homelessness, can build trusting relationships, listen without judgment, remain calm during challenging situations, and respond creatively and respectfully to people experiencing personal crises. This role centers the needs and goals of program participants and uses harm reduction, de-escalation, and trauma-informed approaches to support individual well-being and community safety. Experience in homeless services, lived experience of houselessness or bilingual in Spanish is especially valued.
RESPONSIBILITIES
- Work with at least one additional person on nights and weekends to provide support for people experiencing homelessness in either a hotel or congregate setting.
- Support individuals by being a friendly ear to listen, de-escalating conflicts and providing information and referrals.
- Perform hourly rounds to check on the safety of individuals, communicate to the rest of the team through the rounds log and write incident reports as needed.
- Assist people in getting to shelter when accepted and facilitating new check-ins.
- Assist with obtaining basic needs items including food, toiletries, etc.
- Engage in harm reduction conversations with individuals as needed.
- Attend meetings and trainings as scheduled.
- Hours are generally 3pm – 8am – specific hours to be determined.
- Other duties as assigned.
SKILLS AND QUALIFICATIONS:
- A passion for ending homelessness and experience working with people without homes.
- Good written and verbal non-violent, trauma informed communication skills.
- Ability to work with clients where they are at and navigate complex conversations, centering on harm reduction and program participant’s needs.
- Demonstrated ability to use creative problem-solving skills to assist persons in personal crises.
- Ability to maintain confidentiality and professional boundaries with our clients.
- Ability to follow organizational policies.
- History of positive working relationships with people of diverse racial/ethnic, socio-economic, and educational backgrounds.
- Ability to use Signal (encrypted text messaging), Google Suite and navigate websites/wikis. Work is almost entirely on-line to reduce paper.
- Ability to be trained in HMIS and Madison Street Medicine Electronic Health Records system.
- Good organizational skills and ability to work independently and with close attention to details.
- Commitment to anti racism
- Commitment to the mission of a small, volunteer driven non-profit organization.
- Ability to have a flexible schedule.
- Lived experience of homelessness, mental health or substance use struggles, bilingual in Spanish or ASL a plus.
If you feel that you are a good fit, please apply by sending your resume AND a cover letter to office@madisonstreetmedicine.org or by applying below.