Pros
-Amazing clients. Opportunity to build meaningful relationships. -Recent pay increase for all Case Managers made the pay quite competitive. -40 hour a week schedule is pretty manageable. You are not expected to work excessive hours/nights or weekends.
Cons
-No training whatsoever. I didn't even meet my boss until my second week on the job. They just showed me my office and told me to wait until a client walked in. -Super low employee morale, incredibly high turnover. I was made to feel completely replaceable the entire time I was there. LIHI makes no effort when it comes to retention, they just accept that people will leave after a short time and then complain about their retention issues. -Gossipy/"mean girl" culture among upper management. Lack of transparency about who your supervisor is/who you report to. Supervisory relationships can be incredibly tense. -The new structure where property management supervises Case Managers is morally wrong and counter productive. CMs are now expected to "help" with evictions, collection of past due rent, etc. There were times when I felt like I was being punished for advocating for a tenant when I was really just doing what I felt like I was supposed to do based on my job description. -Unclear expectations. Written policies are either nonexistent or inaccessible. If you ask someone a question you are often passed around to different people and no one has an answer. -Because of the retention issue, they are often desperate and it seems like they will hire literally anyone. Some of my coworkers were amazing and some of them didn't want to be there at all-- LIHI doesn't care. Unqualified employees/employees who don't do their job are ignored while employees who go above and beyond to help residents are targeted and punished. -General lack of compassion for the population being served. If you care deeply about housing first/harm reduction, you will not find many likeminded people here. I was genuinely appalled at the way that some staff and supervisors would talk about residents behind closed doors, and even to their faces. The focus is on money. Residents who are too "problematic" (addiction, mental health challenges) are targeted for eviction and as a supportive services employee I often felt powerless to help once property management decided that someone needed to be evicted. Armed security is present at many buildings-- residents have been tased and verbally harassed. Too much reliance on law enforcement for an organization that claims to value trauma informed care. -Each property feels incredibly isolated from all others. In my entire time with LIHI I interacted with staff from other properties only a handful of times. There is no feeling of community in the organization as a whole, so if you enjoy your time or not is really dependent on the property you are placed at.
