Lived Experience Peer Support Worker (Homelessness/Rough Sleeping)

Lived Experience Peer Support Worker (Homelessness/Rough Sleeping)

Temporary until 31 March 2027 (Subject to further funding)

Full Time (37 hours per week)

Closing Date: Tuesday 11th August 2026, Midnight

Interview Shortlisting Date: Wednesday 12th August 2026

Interviews will be held on Monday 17th August 2026

We have an exciting opportunity for a Lived Experience Peer Support Worker to work alongside Sheffield City Councils Rough Sleeper Teams and Street Outreach Service.

You will play a part in the delivery of the Councils Rough Sleeping Programme and Strategy, with the aim of improving peoples experience and outcomes.

What we are looking for:

The majority of people who are Rough Sleeping or at risk of, have experienced multiple disadvantage and trauma. You will act as a mentor and expert by experience to people rough sleeping or at risk of rough sleeping. You will use your lived experience and insight to increase engagement, build relationships and develop understanding.

We are looking for a compassionate and dedicated individual, and we welcome people from diverse backgrounds with different life experiences. We believe this makes our team stronger. 

It is essential that you have lived experience in any one or more of the following areas:

• Homelessness
• Insecure Housing
• Rough Sleeping
• Criminal Justice System (Desirable)

Who you are:

We want to know what you enjoy doing and what you will do well. We want to ensure that this role is the right fit for you, so we are particularly interested in people who are:  

• Excellent at building trusting relationships, strong communication and active listening skills, great at reaching out, connecting and engaging with a wide range of people.
• Empathetic and non-judgemental; open, honest and friendly, able to see and support the potential in people.
• A well of positivity, hopeful and optimistic, always seeking solutions.   
• Have a good understanding of the challenges faced by those experiencing homelessness and the systemic factors contributing to homelessness.
• Knowledge of local resources and support services for individuals experiencing homelessness is advantageous.
• Have lived experience yourself of either homelessness or insecure housing, rough sleeping and/or the criminal justice system. Ideally you will have been in recovery for a minimum of 2 years. 
• Able to use your own lived experience to support others in an authentic, credible and appropriate way.
• Willing to develop your practice in peer support, strength-based approaches and motivational interviewing

Please see the job description and person specification for more information, including the strengths we believe will lead to success in this role.  

More about the role:

This specific service is funded by Sheffield City Council. SYHA deliver a Coproduction and Peer Support Service to support the Changing Futures programme in Sheffield. This role will sit under the Changing Futures umbrella and add to our existing Peer Support Worker roles.

Where will you be based?

The post will be based at SYHA’s head office at 152 Rockingham Street, Sheffield, with co-location in the Rough Sleeper and Housing First Teams, within and commissioned by Sheffield City Council. You may also be required to work at other partner organisations such as community settings, prison, probation, and voluntary services in line with the requirements of the role. 

Benefits:

• Flexible working hours of 37 hours per week, negotiable (we’re happy to discuss part-time hours)
• 27 days holiday, plus 8 bank holidays, plus 4 SYHA days connected to bank holidays (pro-rata’d for part time staff)
• Benefits which include an excellent flexible working scheme, family friendly perks, wellbeing scheme, discounts scheme
• Access to a wide range of training and development to support you in your role.
  • Pension contribution

Who we are:

At South Yorkshire Housing Association, our purpose is for our customers to settle at home, live well and realise their potential.

Feeling settled and living well means different things to the people and families that live across South Yorkshire. So, we work with people in different ways – from our extra-care housing, to providing services and opportunities that individuals can access in their home, workplace and community, to creating houses for affordable rent.

Our employees enable us to create the best services, support, and experiences for our customers. We believe that difference makes us better, and that our services are made stronger by having a diverse workforce. We encourage and welcome applications from all backgrounds.

At SYHA, we value the incredible contribution and talent that people with disabilities can and do bring to our workplace and we are proud to be a Disability Confident Employer. As part of our commitments, we will ensure that disabled applicants who meet the essential criteria for the role will be guaranteed the opportunity to demonstrate their abilities at interview.

To be considered under the scheme, disabled applicants must disclose their disability (as defined by the Equality Act 2010) on the Equal Opportunities section of the job application.

SYHA does not hold a sponsorship license and are unable to provide visa sponsorship.

Recruitment Drop in Sessions

We are providing some recruitment drop-in sessions at our City Centre office in Sheffield. Come and have a chat with us to find out more.

You can:

• Meet our friendly team including some of our existing lived experience peer support workers, find out more about the job & ask us any questions you have.
• Have a chat with a member of our Human Resources Team about the benefits of working at SYHA
• Get great tips on applications & interviews from our Work & Wellbeing team

Drop-in sessions will be available at our city centre office at 152 Rockingham Street, Sheffield, S1 4EB on the following dates:

Tuesday 4th August 10am-12pm

Thursday 6th August 1pm-3pm

Come to reception on the ground floor

If you can’t make any of the drop-in sessions but want to find out more, Get in touch:

Rehana Ismail (Peer Support Lead) Tel: 07393 462623
CLICK BELOW TO APPLY - https://careers.syha.co.uk/vacancy/peer-support-worker-616477.html 

What you can expect from our recruitment process

• We’ll be warm, friendly, welcoming and fair – We won’t try to catch you out or trip you up
• We’ll be focusing on your strengths & what your good at
• We’ll give you your interview questions in advance so you have time to think and prepare, you can bring any notes with you to the interview, and we’re happy to let you pause for breath during the interview
• At least 50% of our recruitment panel will be people with lived experience themselves.
• We’ll offer easy access to our Work & Wellbeing services if you want ongoing support getting into employment (some eligibility rules may apply but we’ll talk you through this)
• We’re open to receiving feedback. We want to know what we could have done to improve the experience.

Please note that we may remove this advert prior to the advertised date, dependent on the level of response received. Please apply at your earliest convenience.

INDAD