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Senior Social Worker (HUD-VASH)

Veterans Health Administration

Job Location:

Cincinnati, OH - USA

Yearly Salary: USD 93231 - 93231

Posted: 6 October 2026 (5 days ago)

Application Deadline: 3 January 2027

Vacancies: 1 Vacancy

Job Summary

Summary

This position is eligible for the Education Debt Reduction Program (EDRP) a student loan payment reimbursement program. You must meet specific individual eligibility requirements in accordance with VHA policy and submit your EDRP application within four months of appointment. Program Approval award amount (up to $200000) and eligibility period (one to five years) are determined by the VHA Education Loan Repayment Services program office after complete review of the EDRP application.

Duties

The Cincinnati VA Medical Center is looking for an Independently Licensed Senior Social Worker who will be assigned to the Community Outreach Divisions HUD-VASH Program this individual must have specialized clinical expertise in an area applicable to the HUD-VASH program such as care to Veterans experiencing homelessness care to Veterans recovering from trauma experience in the treatment of mental illness or experience with evidence-based treatment modalities.

The HUDVASH program is a collaborative effort supported through HUD Housing Choice Vouchers and VAs intensive case management service.

The primary goal of HUD-VASH is to move Veterans and their families out of chronic homelessness. The primary component of the program is VA case management services designed to improve Veterans health and mental health enhancing their ability to remain stable housed and community integrated. The employee completes program specific forms including Homeless Operations Management and Evaluation System (HOMES) forms to ensure maintenance of data regarding serving this population. The individua is responsible for serving as one of the primary contacts with Public Housing Agencies (PHAs) in Ohio Kentucky and Indiana providing case management based services (directly or through referral) necessary to ensure that Veteran care is coordinated with the VA medical center community health or mental health providers and agencies that serve homeless populations. The employee communicates with HUD-VASH programs in other states to facilitate the portability of vouchers.

Total Rewards of a Allied Health Professional

Duties:

Incorporates complex multiple causation in differential diagnoses and treatments.
Provides outreach services to engage homeless Veterans to include building collaborations with both internal and external stakeholders to ensure service delivery methods and service patterns match the identified patient need.
Conducts interviews independently and assessments for the purpose of program enrollment and to aid in the development of treatment plans.
Utilizes Housing First and other evidence-based practice models to promote Veteran engagement and self-efficacy.
Assists the Veteran with housing placement beginning with the process of obtaining a HUD-VASH voucher from the Public Housing Authority (PHA) through the lease up process.
Advocates on behalf of Veterans and their families with landlords PHAs community providers and VA programs.
Develops and maintains relationships and processes with the Continuum of Care Coordinated Entry System HUD Regional Offices PHAs and/or other internal and external stakeholders.
Assists Veterans to form and achieve goals to improve quality of life to include the pursuit of employment engagement in medical and mental health care increased social supports access to benefits and end of life planning.
Provides community-based clinical case management and care coordination services at the frequency commensurate with the Veterans stage of case management clinical needs and preferences for care.
Conducts home visits with the intent of removing barriers for access to care supporting housing stability and assessing social and community integration.
Provides a wide range of social work interventions and services in both individual or group settings to include psychotherapy and advanced level psychosocial and/or case management as consistent with VHA Directive 1110.02 Social Work Professional Practice and approved scope of practice.

Selected applicants may qualify for credit toward annual leave accrual based on prior work experience or military service experience.
Parental Leave: After 12 months of employment up to 12 weeks of paid parental leave in connection with the birth adoption or foster care placement of a child.
Child Care Subsidy: After 60 days of employment full time employees with a total family income below $144000 may be eligible for a childcare subsidy up to 25% of total eligible childcare costs for eligible children up to the monthly maximum of $416.66.
Retirement: Traditional federal pension (5 years vesting) and federal 401K with up to 5% in contributions by VA.
Insurance: Federal health/vision/dental/term life/long-term care (many federal insurance programs can be carried into retirement).

Work Schedule: Monday - Friday 8:00 am-4:30 pm
Telework: AD HOC per agency policy discretion.
Virtual: This is not a virtual position.
Functional Statement #: 92749-0
EDRP Authorized: Former EDRP participants ineligible to apply for incentive. Contact the EDRP Coordinator for questions/assistance.
Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized.
Recruitment Incentive (Sign-on Bonus): Not Authorized.

Requirements

Conditions of employment

You must be a U.S. Citizen to apply for this job.
Selective Service Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959.
Must be proficient in written and spoken English.
Subject to background/security investigation.
Selected applicants will be required to complete an online onboarding process. Acceptable form(s) of identification will be required to complete pre-employment requirements ( Effective May 7 2025 drivers licenses or state-issued identification cards that are not REAL ID compliant cannot be utilized as an acceptable form of identification for employment.
Must pass pre-employment physical examination and drivers physical.
Participation in the seasonal influenza vaccination program is a requirement for all Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care Personnel (HCP).
Complete all application requirements detailed in the Required Documents section of this announcement.

As a condition of employment for accepting this position you will be required to serve a 1 or 2-year trial period during which we will evaluate your fitness and whether your continued employment advances the public determining if your employment advances the public interest we may consider:

your performance and conduct;
the needs and interests of the agency;
whether your continued employment would advance organizational goals of the agency or the Government; and
whether your continued employment would advance the efficiency of the Federal service.

Upon completion of your trial period your employment will be terminated unless you receive certification in writing that your continued employment advances the public interest.

Qualifications

Applicants pending the completion of educational or certification/licensure requirements may be referred and tentatively selected but may not be hired until all requirements are met.

Basic Requirements:

United States Citizenship: Non-citizens may only be appointed when it is not possible to recruit qualified citizens in accordance with VA Policy.
English Language Proficiency. Candidates must be proficient in spoken and written English to be appointed as authorized by 38 U.S.C. 7403(f).
Education. Have a masters degree in social work from a school of social work fully accredited by the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE). Graduates of schools of social work that are in candidacy status do not meet this requirement until the School of Social Work is fully accredited. A doctoral degree in social work may not be substituted for the masters degree in social work. Verification of the degree can be made by going to to verify that the social work degree meets the accreditation standards for a masters of social work.
Licensure. Persons hired or reassigned to social worker positions in the GS-0185 series in VHA must be licensed or certified by a state to independently practice social work at the masters degree level. Current state requirements may be found by going to License: Must posses a valid unrestricted Drivers License

May qualify based on being covered by the Grandfathering Provision as described in the VA Qualification Standard for this occupation (only applicable to current VHA employees who are in this occupation and meet the criteria).

Grade Determinations Senior Social Worker GS-12

Experience/Education. The candidate must have at least two years of experience post advanced practice clinical licensure and should be in a specialized area of social work practice of which one year must be equivalent to the GS-11 grade level. Senior social workers have experience that demonstrates possession of advanced practice skills and judgment. Senior social workers are experts in their specialized area of practice. Senior social workers may have certification or other post-masters training from a nationally recognized professional organization or university that includes a defined curriculum/course of study and internship or equivalent supervised professional experience in a specialty.

Licensure/Certification. Senior social workers must be licensed or certified by a state at the advanced practice level which included an advanced generalist or clinical examination unless they are grandfathered by the state in which they are licensed to practice at the advanced practice level (except for licenses issued in California which administers its own clinical examination for advanced practice) and they must be able to provide supervision for licensure.

Demonstrated Knowledge Skills and Abilities. In addition to the experience above candidates must demonstrate all of the following KSAs:

Skill in a range of specialized interventions and treatment modalities used in specialty treatment programs or with special patient populations. This includes individual group and/or family counseling or psychotherapy and advanced level psychosocial and/or case management.
Ability to incorporate complex multiple causation in differential diagnosis and treatment within approved clinical privileges or scope of practice.
Knowledge in developing and implementing methods for measuring effectiveness of social work practice and services in the specialty area utilizing outcome evaluations to improve treatment services and to design system changes.
Ability to provide specialized consultation to colleagues and students on the psychosocial treatment of patients in the service delivery area as well as role modeling effective social work practice skills.
Ability to expand clinical knowledge in the social work profession and to write policies procedures and/or practice guidelines pertaining to the service delivery area.

Assignments. For all assignments above the full performance level the higher-level duties must consist of significant scope complexity (difficulty) and variety and be performed by the incumbent at least 25% of the time. Senior social workers are licensed or certified to independently practice social work at an advanced level. Senior social workers typically practice in a major program area such as but not limited to: Polytrauma Rehabilitation Center or Polytrauma Network Site; a Spinal Cord Injury Rehabilitation Center or a national VHA referral center such as a national Center for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder or a national Transplant Center or other program areas of equivalent scope and complexity. The senior social worker may be assigned administrative responsibility for clinical program development and is accountable for clinical program effectiveness and modification of service patterns. Assignments include clinical settings where they have limited access to onsite supervision such as CBOCs or satellite outpatient clinics. The senior social worker collaborates with the other members of the treatment team in the provision of comprehensive health care services to Veterans ensures equity of access service and benefits to this population ensures the care provided is of the highest quality. The senior social worker provides leadership direction orientation coaching in-service training staff development and continuing education programs for assigned social work staff. They serve on committees work groups and task forces at the facility VISN and national level or in the community as deemed appropriate by the supervisor Social Work Executive or Chief of Social Work Services. This assignment must represent substantial additional responsibility over and above that required at the full performance grade level and cannot be used as the full performance level of this occupation.

Reference: For more information on this qualification standard please visit full performance level of this vacancy is 12.

Physical Requirements: This position requires the operation of a government-owned or -leased motor vehicle in order to properly carry out assigned duties. Refer to VA Handbook 5019/1 Part II Appendix A for requirements related to motor vehicle operators. This position requires a valid unrestricted drivers license.

Traveling throughout the medical center and the community is required as is performing activities involving sitting talking driving walking standing bending the use of a computer and telephone and carrying such items as books papers and files not to exceed facility determined carrying out responsibilities it is necessary for the incumbent to travel into the community where they provide care to Veterans. Care provided in emergency shelters Veteran homes or other community locations may require the use of stairs walking on uneven terrain and reasonable exposure to the elements. Strenuous physical activity is not anticipated although the incumbent is expected to withstand stress and interact with crisis situations as part of day-to-day activity.

Education

Note: Only education or degrees recognized by the U.S. Department of Education from accredited colleges universities schools or institutions may be used to qualify for Federal employment. You can verify your education here: If you are using foreign education to meet qualification requirements you must send a Certificate of Foreign Equivalency with your transcript in order to receive credit for that education. For further information visit:

Additional information

Receiving Service Credit for Earning Annual (Vacation) Leave: Federal Employees earn annual leave at a rate (4 6 or 8 hours per pay period) which is based on the number of years they have served as a Federal employee. Selected applicants may qualify for credit toward annual leave accrual based on prior work experience or military service experience. This credited service can be used in determining the rate at which they earn annual leave. Such credit must be requested and approved prior to the appointment date and is not guaranteed.

During the application process you may have an option to opt-in to make your resume available to hiring managers in the agency who have similar positions. Opting in does not impact your application for this announcement nor does it guarantee further consideration for additional positions.

This job opportunity announcement may be used to fill additional vacancies.

This position is in the Excepted Service and does not confer competitive status.

VA encourages persons with disabilities to apply. The health-related positions in VA are covered by Title 38 and are not covered by the Schedule A excepted appointment authority.

If you are unable to apply online or need an alternate method to submit documents please reach out to the Agency Contact listed in this Job Opportunity Announcement.

Under the Fair Chance to Compete Act the Department of Veterans Affairs prohibits requesting an applicants criminal history prior to accepting a tentative job offer. For more information about the Act and the complaint process visit Human Resources and Administration/Operations Security and Preparedness (HRA/OSP) at The Fair Chance Act.

Candidates should be committed to improving the efficiency of the Federal government passionate about the ideals of our American republic and committed to upholding the rule of law and the United States Constitution.

A career with the U.S. government provides employees with a comprehensive benefits package. As a federal employee you and your family will have access to a range of benefits that are designed to make your federal career very rewarding. Opens in a new windowLearn more about federal benefits.

Review our benefits

Eligibility for benefits depends on the type of position you hold and whether your position is full-time part-time or intermittent. Contact the hiring agency for more information on the specific benefits offered.

Required Experience:

Senior IC

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