System Navigator

INTERNAL/EXTERNAL

Job Title: System Navigator, Drop-Ins

Position Type: Full Time, Bargaining Unit, Permanent

Number of Positions: 1

Reason for Posting: Existing Vacancy

Rate: $29.40 per hour

Vacation: 4 weeks to start

Benefits: Group benefits with Life Insurance, AD&D, Extended Health and Dental Care with premiums 100% paid by the employer, LTD with premiums 100% paid by employees; paid sick leave and float day

RRSP: RRSP with 6.5% employer contribution and 4% employee contribution after successful completion of probation

Hours: 37.5 hours per week

Supervisor: Senior Manager, Drop-Ins

Posting Date: November 13, 2026

Application Deadline: November 24, 2026

Location: Drop-In sites, located at 145 Queen Street East, and 40 Oak Street

Why Fred Victor?

For 130 years, Fred Victor has been a leader in helping people rebuild their lives in Toronto. Our mission is to improve the health, income and housing stability of people experiencing poverty and homelessness. We arecommitted to ending homelessness, one person at a time.

The Community Services (CS) department at Fred Victor is a multi-service, multi-site structure that encompasses the 40 Oak Community HUB and community programs, Employment and Training Services, Drop-Ins, Keep Cool Programs, and Food Services. Additionally, it operates social purpose enterprise with catering and outreach services and spearheads a significant peer training initiative that prioritizes the involvement of individuals with lived experience.

Fred Victor’s 145 Queen Street East Drop-In is the community living room of the 145 Queen hub, known to many as the Moss Park living room. It is a compassionate, inclusive and low-barrier space grounded in harm reduction. We welcome people who are unsheltered, unhoused, precariously housed or socially isolated in Moss Park and the surrounding neighbourhood. Low barrier means no ID, proof of residency or intrusive questions. Adults 18 and over are welcome as they are, wherever they are in their journey. Relationships are at the centre of this work. The people we serve bring tremendous resilience and community, and many carry experiences that can make stressful moments harder. Drop-ins are on the front line of Toronto’s overdose and housing crises, and our staff, trained in crisis support and de-escalation, are often the first to respond. The Drop-In offers a warm, safe place to meet basic needs, including snacks, clothing, washrooms, harm reduction supplies and shelter from extreme weather. Staff connect people to referrals and partner services on site. Evening and weekend shifts add drug checking, system navigation and recreation. Peer access workers bring lived and living experience to the hub. They support people to access washrooms and harm reduction supplies with comfort and guidance. They also draw on their own experience of the treatment and recovery continuum.

The Drop-In is part of a connected hub that includes supportive housing, a community meal program, mental health and justice workers, and concurrent disorders and clinical services. Partners offer harm reduction case management, housing help, ID clinics and legal support. It takes all of us to support the people who come to 145 Queen.

A key focus of this role is to improve pathways and system navigation for clients entering the Drop-In program by building trusting relationships and facilitating seamless access to Fred Victor’s comprehensive range of services, including mental health, harm reduction, shelter, housing, case management, and employment supports.

This role provides system navigation, advocacy, and warm transfers, collaborates with multidisciplinary teams, and contributes to continuous quality improvement efforts.

Does this sound like work you want to be a part of?

We offer a supportive and collaborative environment, an opportunity to join a diverse team of caring professionals, and a chance to make a difference. With over 75 programs and services and more than 25 sites, there are lots of opportunities to grow your career with us. Many members of the management team started in relief and front-line roles.

What You Will Do:

• Act as an active member of the Drop-In team, delivering low-barrier Drop-In services that provide essential supports such as meals, showers, and laundry services to people experiencing homelessness or housing instability.
• Focus on meeting clients’ basic needs, ensuring safety, and promoting health, housing and community connections.
• Build trusting, supportive relationships with Drop-In clients that prioritize their goals, lived experience, and individual strengths.
• Build and strengthen seamless and equitable pathways to service for Drop-In clients, facilitating their access to Fred Victor’s full range of mental health, harm reduction, shelter, housing, case management, employment, and health services.
• Provide navigation and advocacy services including warm transfers to case managers, internally and externally, to help clients overcome barriers and connect with appropriate resources and programs.
• Assist in mapping out client service pathways and keep informed of new and emerging internal program opportunities across Fred Victor to improve awareness, coordination, and resource utilization of resources for Drop-In client referral.
• Work collaboratively with multidisciplinary groups focused on improving system integration and identifying and addressing access gaps within services for Drop-In clients.
• Actively contributes to ongoing efforts to improve access pathways and reduce systemic barriers across all programs serving Drop-In clients.
• Engage clients using empathy, patience, and a harm reduction philosophy, ensuring a non-judgmental approach in all interactions.
• Support Drop-In clients in building social connections through the development and facilitation of program activities that foster community and peer support.
• Collaborate closely with 40 Oak Street and other Fred Victor Drop-In locations, community engagement teams, volunteers, and other Fred Victor programs to ensure integrated and seamless service coordination.
• Collect, manage, and maintain accurate service data in compliance with internal and external reporting requirements.
• Perform various Drop-In related duties to support the smooth operation of a large Drop-In program, including planning and delivering community events and providing direct client support as needed.
• Support the coordination and leadership of annual tax clinics aimed at helping Drop-In clients access financial resources and benefits.
• Liaise regularly with teams focused on food access, garden programs, volunteers, and community engagement to enhance integrated client services and program development.
• Participate actively in multidisciplinary team meetings, case conferences, and organizational initiatives to support continuous quality improvement and expand and promote Drop-In services.

What You Bring to the Team:

• Degree/Diploma in Social Work, Social Services, Community Development, or a related area.
• Experience supporting individuals with lived experience of homelessness, mental health challenges, and substance use, ideally in Drop-In or community service settings.
• Strong understanding and commitment to harm reduction principles, trauma-informed care, and motivational frameworks such as the Stages of Change model.
• Proven ability to navigate complex internal and external service systems effectively.
• Experience maintaining case management documentation and managing reporting requirements.
• Excellent interpersonal, communication, and relationship-building skills with a client-centered, non-judgmental approach.
• Demonstrated ability to work both independently and collaboratively within multidisciplinary teams.
• Strong organizational skills with attention to detail and flexibility to adapt to changing program needs.

What Sets You Apart:

• You have a demonstrated ability to build trusting, empathetic relationships with clients who face complex barriers, centering their lived experience and goals.
• You possess strong knowledge of harm reduction principles and trauma-informed approaches and apply these consistently in your practice.
• You are skilled at navigating and advocating within complex systems to connect clients to appropriate internal and external services.
• You are a collaborative team player who effectively liaises with diverse groups, including clients, staff, volunteers, and community partners.
• You bring excellent organizational skills, attention to detail, and adaptability to manage multiple priorities in a dynamic Drop-In program environment.
• You demonstrate high integrity; compassion; genuinely committed to improving the lives of vulnerable and marginalized people.
• Demonstrated understanding of and commitment to social justice issues, equity, anti-racism and anti-oppression practices.

Compensation and Benefits:

• For the System Navigator, Drop-Ins, Fred Victor offers an hourly rate of $29.40
• 4 weeks of vacation to start + 1 float day
• Generous paid sick leave allowance
• A comprehensive Dental, Extended Health and LTD group benefits package includes individual and family coverage, including prescriptions, hospital accommodation, hearing care, paramedical practitioners and a wide variety of dental care. Additional insurance includes vision care and travel for emergency medical services.
• 6.5 % of your gross salary will be contributed to a group RRSP on your behalf after successful completion of probation; you will contribute 4% of your gross salary to the same RRSP
• Access to employee and family assistance plan

How You Can Apply:

Internal employees who are interested in this opportunity are encouraged to apply through ADP by navigating to Myself > Talent > Career Centre. Please note that we are currently soft-launching our new online hiring system through ADP. During this transition, not all job postings are available in the system yet. We appreciate your patience as we work through this transition. As part of the application process, applicants are asked to upload their resume and a cover letter as one document describing their interest in joining the Fred Victor team.

A Police Record Check is required by the final candidate prior to hiring.

Accessibility & Accommodation

Fred Victor is committed to fostering an inclusive and accessible environment where employees feel valued and respected, and where every employee has the opportunity to realize their potential. As such, we welcome and encourage applicants who identify as racialized persons, Indigenous persons, persons with disabilities, and persons across the spectrum of sexual orientation and gender identities and have lived-experience.

If you are a person with a disability and require accommodation and/or assistance during the application process, please contact us in advance. We strive to provide reasonable accommodations whenever requested. Information received relating to accommodation requests will be treated with confidentiality.