Rental Assistance Analyst of Housing Access Voucher Program (HAVP) for the Division of Housing Opportunity

City of New York • New York City, NY

15d

About The Position

About HPD, the Office of Housing Access and Stability: About the Agency: The New York City Department of Housing Preservation (HPD) promotes quality and affordability in the city's housing, and diversity and strength in the city’s neighborhoods because every New Yorker deserves a safe, affordable place to live in a neighborhood they love. - We maintain building and resident safety and health - We create opportunities for New Yorkers through housing affordability - We engage New Yorkers to build and sustain neighborhood strength and diversity. The Office of Housing Access and Stability (“HAS”) consists of the divisions of Housing Opportunity, Tenant and Owner Resources, Housing Stability, Budget and Program Operations, and Program Policy and Innovation. The mission of the office is to ensure fair, efficient, and transparent access to affordable housing. The Office provides subsidies, placement services, and tools that connect New Yorkers to affordable housing and ensures vulnerable households in subsidized housing have the support they need to be safely housed. Housing Access is committed to expanding housing choices, affirmatively furthering fair housing, and stabilizing the financial health of buildings. Your Team: The Division of Housing Opportunity ensures that HPD’s affordable housing is made available through fair, transparent, and accessible programming. Developers creating affordable housing are required to offer many types of units through an open lottery process on NYC Housing Connect and fill other units through a placement process for households in the City’s shelter system. The Division of Housing Opportunity (DHO) administers the housing lottery and homeless placements programs, as well as programs supporting applicants accessing affordable and supportive housing. DHO crafts policy and procedures to ensure that these programs offer equal opportunity to all applicants and affirmatively further fair housing. The Housing Access Voucher Program (HAVP) is a new statewide rental subsidy program for low-income families and individuals who are facing eviction, currently homeless, or facing loss of housing due to domestic violence or hazardous living conditions. HAVP would be available to New Yorkers who may be ineligible for local or federal rental assistance programs. HAVP would help low-income New Yorkers achieve stability and retain permanent housing by subsidizing their rent. Tenants would contribute 30% of their income toward rent, with the rest covered by subsidies. HAVP will curb evictions, give households facing homelessness a path to secure permanent housing, and could be bundled to subsidize affordable housing construction. Your Impact: As an HAVP Rental Assistance Analyst within the Rental Subsidy & Supportive Housing Coordination (RSSHC) Unit, you will help formerly homeless, senior, low income, and other vulnerable New Yorkers access affordable housing subsidies through HAVP. The team's primary responsibilities are to ensure that eligible tenants gain access to housing as quickly and efficiently as possible, and that the HAVP subsidy allocations are fully utilized in a timely manner and compliant with federal, local, and regulatory requirements. Your Role: Your role as HAVP Rental Assistance Analyst will be to manage the RSSHC portfolio using independent judgement and knowledge of administrative requirements for the Housing Access Voucher Program (HAVP). The Rental Assistance Analyst will provide application guidance to not- for-profit providers, other government agencies and answer questions regarding eligibility and administrative requirements for HAVP. Rental Assistance Analyst will review applications for completeness, submit applications, and update specific HAVP databases as required.

Requirements

• A baccalaureate degree from an accredited college and two years of experience in community work or community centered activities in an area related to the duties described above; or
• High school graduation or equivalent and six years of experience in community work or community centered activities in an area related to the duties as described above; or
• Education and/or experience which is equivalent to "1" or "2" above. However, all candidates must have at least one year of experience as described in "1" above.

Nice To Haves

• Experience working with Federal or local rental assistance programs and knowledge of supportive housing funding, including service funding
• Experience and knowledge in processing various types of subsidy and application process (e.g. Housing Choice Voucher, Project Based Voucher, NYC 1515, SPC Shelter Plus Care, MOD SRO and Supportive Housing).
• Ability to interpret, understand, apply, and explain rental assistance program requirements, policies, and processes
• Initiative with the ability to anticipate the needs of the team and department, and willingness to seek and implement solutions to problems
• Analytical, planning and project management skills including carrying out projects from conception to completion
• Organize, plan and structure workload(s) in a manner, which maximizes productivity while ensuring excellent quality
• Well-developed interpersonal skills with the ability to communicate complex rules, concepts, and processes to stakeholders with different levels of awareness and knowledge
• Strong writing/editing skills with the ability to adapt style and tone dependent on audience
• The ability to work well independently as well as with other team members and stakeholders
• Proficiency using the Microsoft Office suite (e.g. Excel, Word, PowerPoint, Teams, and Outlook, etc.)
• Ability to provide the highest quality service to the public by addressing concerns timely, accurately, and professionally

Responsibilities

• Manage and track the Housing Access Voucher Program application process for new projects, including coordinating with the not-for-profit providers and government referral agencies
• Review tenant rental assistance applications for eligibility documentation and completeness.
• Provide HAVP subsidy application trainings and technical assistance to not for profit agencies and management companies to ensure applications are completed thoroughly, in a timely manner and include all required additional documents
• Work collaboratively with a variety of internal and external stakeholders
• Establish and maintain cooperative working relationships with not-for-profit social service, housing agencies, management companies, landlords, and other public agencies.
• Maintain sensitivity to the needs of homeless, elderly, disabled and very low-income households
• Participate in required training and kick-off meetings with other housing providers and stakeholders
• Ensure all RSSHC Unit trackers are up-to-date with HAVP and have all relevant information in appropriate section
• Assist other HAVP Rental Assistance Analyst within the RSSHC team for adequate coverage

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Entry Level
• Number of Employees: 101-250 employees