Are you compassionate, dependable, quick on your feet, and able to find humour and humanity - even during a difficult shift?

The Landing is looking for Shelter Support Workers who believe that every person deserves dignity, respect, and a safe place to land. This is meaningful, people-centred work where no two shifts are exactly alike. One moment, you may be helping someone find clean clothing or sharing a cup of coffee; the next, you may be responding to a crisis, completing an intake, cleaning a shared space, or supporting someone through one of the hardest days of their life.

You do not need to have all the answers. You do need to be willing to listen, learn, maintain boundaries, work as part of a team, and treat people like people.

As a Shelter Support Worker, you will:

- Welcome guests and help create a respectful, inclusive environment.
- Assist with intakes, bed assignments, check-ins, and required documentation.
- Build professional, supportive relationships with people experiencing homelessness.
- Provide harm reduction supplies, basic necessities, referrals, and practical support.
- Respond calmly to conflict, emotional distress, intoxication, overdoses, and other emergencies.
- Follow safety procedures, complete regular shelter patrols, and communicate with your team.
- Support daily routines, including meals, laundry, cleaning, and maintaining shared spaces.
- Document guest interactions, incidents, and services accurately in HIFIS and other shelter records.
- Uphold guest expectations consistently, respectfully, and without unnecessary judgment.
- Work alongside coworkers, managers, caseworkers, community partners, and emergency services.
- Celebrate the wins, big and small, because progress does not look the same for everyone.

Shelter work can be incredibly rewarding, but it is not always easy or glamorous. You may encounter:

- Raised voices, conflict, negative behaviour, and emotionally intense situations.
- Guests experiencing substance use, withdrawal, psychosis, trauma, grief, or significant mental-health challenges.
- Medical emergencies, poisonings, and situations requiring police, fire, or paramedic support.
- Bodily fluids, robust odours, pests, discarded sharps, and spaces that require cleaning.
- Difficult decisions where there is no perfect answer.
- Overnight, weekend, and holiday shifts in a 24-hour environment.
- Long quiet periods followed by several urgent situations at once.
- Guests who are frustrated with systems and who may express that frustration toward staff.




- The emotional weight of caring about people while recognizing that you cannot fix everything for them.

This position requires compassion with boundaries. You must be able to remain professional when someone is upset with you, follow procedures under pressure, accept direction, ask for help, and contribute to a team even when the shift is challenging.

Professional Boundaries in a Rural Community

Working in a rural area comes with a unique reality: our community is connected, and there is a good chance you will already know, or eventually see, shelter guests outside of work. You may share friends, family connections, community spaces, or local services. Maintaining professional boundaries and confidentiality is therefore essential.

Shelter workers must:

- Keep guest information completely confidential, both at work and in the community.
- Never confirm that someone uses shelter services or discuss what happens inside the shelter.
- Avoid sharing personal phone numbers, home addresses, social media accounts, or unnecessary personal information with guests.
- Avoid lending or borrowing money, exchanging gifts, providing personal transportation, or forming financial relationships with guests.
- Maintain appropriate relationships with current and former guests, including online and outside working hours.
- Recognize and disclose potential conflicts of interest or pre existing relationships to management.
- Avoid making promises that cannot be kept or taking personal responsibility for solving someone’s situation.
- Be friendly and caring while remembering that this is a professional helping relationship.
- Continue to protect a guest’s privacy if you see them at a store, appointment, community event, or elsewhere in public.
- Ask for guidance when a boundary feels unclear.

Boundaries are not about being cold or uncaring. They protect guests, staff, and the integrity of our work. In a small community, professionalism includes knowing how to be warm and approachable without allowing the working relationship to become personal.

You may be a great fit if you:

- Genuinely enjoy working with people from many different backgrounds.
- Believe in harm reduction, dignity, inclusion, and person-centred support.
- Can be kind without being a pushover and firm without being disrespectful.




- Communicate clearly and do not avoid difficult conversations.
- Can stay grounded during conflict or emergencies.
- Understand that behaviour is often connected to trauma—but that safety and accountability still matter.
- Are reliable, punctual, and ready to participate fully in the shift.
- Can complete documentation and understand why accurate records matter.
- Are comfortable cleaning, helping with practical tasks, and pitching in wherever needed.
- Know how to work independently while remaining connected to your team.
- Can receive feedback, reflect on your practice, and continue learning.
- Bring lived or living experience, professional experience, education—or a thoughtful combination of all three.

Qualifications

Experience or education in human services, addictions, mental health, community services, social work, security, health care, or a related field is an asset. Relevant lived experience is also valued.

Successful applicants must be willing and able to:

- Complete required training, including First Aid/CPR, overdose response, non-violent crisis intervention, harm reduction, workplace safety, and HIFIS.
- Follow confidentiality and professional-boundary requirements.
- Work days, evenings, overnights, weekends, and holidays as scheduled.
- Complete a satisfactory background check and any other employment requirements.
- Perform the physical duties of the position, including walking throughout the building, climbing stairs, cleaning, and responding promptly during emergencies.

What you’ll find working for SSODA:

- Work that matters.
- A team that understands shelter work can be both serious and full of laughter.
- Opportunities to learn about harm reduction, housing, mental health, community services, and crisis response.
- Honest conversations, ongoing training, and room to grow.
- The privilege of seeing people’s resilience up close.
- Plenty of unexpected moments (and probably more coffee than you originally planned).

Shelter work is not about rescuing people. It is about showing up consistently, offering practical support, respecting people’s choices, maintaining safety, and reminding each person that they still matter.

If that sounds like work you could care about, and you are ready for both its rewards and its realities, we would love to hear from you.

Job Types: Full-time, Part-time, Casual

Pay: From $22.00 per hour

Benefits:

- Casual dress
- Employee assistance program
- Extended health care
- Flexible schedule
- On-site parking

Work Location: In person

📌 Shelter Support Worker (Canada)
🏢 South Shore Open Doors Association
📍 Canada