Position Summary

The Senior Manager, Community Programs plays a pivotal leadership role within the organization, leveraging extensive experience in homelessness services to drive innovation, enhance program effectiveness, and align operations with the agency's strategic vision. This position is essential for fostering cross-functional collaboration, mentoring emerging leaders, and engaging with key stakeholders, including the CEO, community partners, and funders.

Reporting to the Senior Director, Programs, the Senior Manager leads the Program Oversight stream and is responsible for the oversight and strategic leadership of contract performance, oversight and compliance across the funded program portfolio; Homeward Trust's role as a supportive housing system intermediary, as supportive housing capacity grows by about 60%, from 447 to 714 units; and program standards, evaluation and knowledge mobilization, as the single owner of evaluation frameworks and key performance indicators. The position leads the Manager, Supportive Housing Systems; the Specialist, Program Standards (Projects Officer); and the Manager, Housing Supports.

Duties & Responsibilities

Contract Performance, Oversight and Compliance

- Lead the execution of an annual program oversight schedule for each funded program (about 61 programs with 24 external agencies and 7 Homeward Trust programs in 2026–27), monitoring alignment with contracted activities and program model fidelity.
- Oversee fair and transparent procurement, including open RFPs with published criteria, Project Review Committee and Indigenous Advisory Council review where applicable, and rules that meet the strictest funder requirement.
- Uphold Indigenous commitments in contracting,



including Indigenous-specific programs operated by Indigenous organizations and cultural positions and budget lines in contract models.
- Oversee the review cycle through the Manager, Housing Supports: the annual Contract Accountability Review, the twice-yearly Program Impact Review and, with Finance, the Annual Financial Review.
- Maintain one contract model and one Homeward Trust standard across a portfolio with multiple funders, absorbing detailed funder reporting so agencies report once, to one standard.
- Lead the shift toward long-term operator agreements tied to property and affordability obligations as supportive housing grows, including operator contracts on Homeward Trust-owned sites.
- Ensure participant protection and voice through the complaints process, the annual Participant Experience Survey and critical incident reporting, investigating complaints as necessary and working to create resolutions that meet the needs of all affected parties.
- Ensure accurate ETO/HMIS records as a contract requirement, and uphold consent and information-sharing rules.
- Plan protected transitions and wind-downs for every program closure or operator change, drawing on lessons from past closures and operator changes.
- Oversee Good Neighbour Statements of Operation and Engagement Plans, reviewed yearly.

Supportive Housing System Intermediary





- Lead Homeward Trust's shift from supportive housing portfolio manager to system intermediary: building capital, quality, capacity and cross-system integration around supportive housing, without operating it directly.
- Oversee the supportive housing portfolio (21 active supportive and short-term supportive housing programs as of September 2026) and five pending projects adding 267 units.
- Move Homeward Trust's involvement upstream to pre-development, shaping service model, population, engagement and operating budget, including a local development program for operator teams.
- Build operator capacity through onboarding, an operator community of practice, and specialized training delivered with Sector Training.
- Integrate supportive housing referral with the By Name List (BNL), including data-driven identification of people who repeatedly use crisis systems, working with health, recovery and justice system partners.
- Contribute to Senior Leadership's supportive housing funding strategy as a major contributor, providing the program, cost and outcome evidence needed to braid health, municipal, federal and operator funding on a documented cost offset, and flagging risks from the expiry of time-limited federal funding on which supportive housing supplements depend.
- Work with property management on integrated asset and program planning, including reserves, affordability obligations, and building and service fit.

Program Standards, Evaluation and Knowledge Mobilization

- Own standards development for the department, leading the Specialist, Program Standards (Projects Officer) through a sequenced plan: supportive housing standards first, then preven

📌 Senior Manager, Community Programs (Edmonton)
🏢 Homeward Trust Edmonton
📍 Edmonton