Program Specialist - Fair Housing and Ops Support - City of Somerville

Somerville is a city that upholds progressive principles for both employees and residents alike. If you are looking for a culture that embraces innovation, empowerment, and collaborative involvement, Somerville not only embraces these talents, but encourages them. Creative, hands on collaboration with passionate dedication are at the core of the City’s workplace culture.  Challenging and fast paced, Somerville also offers a generous benefits package that embodies a strong work life balance. Not only is it a “Model City”, as termed by The Boston Globe, but it is also a model employer.

Statement of Duties

The Program Specialist for Fair Housing, Inclusionary Housing, and Program support engages in an array of activities and projects that aid the City of Somerville in developing and implementing housing programs to meet community needs. The employee will assist with activities in support of federally funded CDBG and HOME programs and housing projects, fair housing and the City’s Inclusionary Housing Program.  The employee will serve as staff to the City’s Fair Housing Commission, review and respond to housing discrimination complaints, and carry out fair housing initiatives and reporting activities. Additional duties include maintaining, monitoring and updating the City's Subsidized Housing Inventory and administering the Closing Cost and Down Payment Assistance Programs. The employee also performs related duties as required. It is the expectation that the employee will balance all areas of work equally, to the greatest extent possible, with the understanding there are natural ebbs and flows to workflow.

Essential Functions:

The essential functions or duties listed below are intended only as illustrations of the various types of work that may be performed. The omission of specific statements of duties does not exclude them from the position if the work is similar, related, or a logical assignment to the position.

• Serve as staff to the Fair Housing Commission: facilitate Commission meetings and special events; prepare agendas, minutes, and annual report for transmittal to the City Council and Mayor and ongoing efforts related to the City’s Assessment of Fair Housing (implementing actions to mitigate impediments to fair housing in Somerville)
• Screening potential housing discrimination complaints and reasonable accommodation request
• Assist with reasonable accommodation requests where appropriate
• Advocate for complainants to reach an informal resolution of Fair Housing issues
• >Provide resources and legal referrals as appropriate
• Assist with developing topic-specific and self-advocacy material
• Maintain records of complaints
• Assist in marketing and outreach activities of Inclusionary projects and various federally funded housing projects or other housing programs to potential applicants; attend outreach events and information sessions to present on those programs; provide customer service to prospective and active applicants and preparation of marketing materials; assist with affordable housing lottery preparation and implementation;
• Responsible for the review of tenant selection and screening criteria, the appeals process  and leases for Affordable Dwelling Units created through the Inclusionary Housing Program;
• Review applications for completeness, to ensure all necessary documentation is provided for federally funded projects, Inclusionary and other housing programs;
• Determine and certify income eligibility of applicants to federally funded housing projects, Inclusionary Housing projects, and/or other housing programs, including income re-certifications.
• Assist with updating Inclusionary Housing and other program information on an ongoing basis, including on the Housing Division’s website, flyers and brochures (electronic and/or hard copy);
• Assist with coverage of the Inclusionary Housing Program general email and Inclusionary Housing Program general voicemail, in addition to Inclusionary Housing Program office coverage and open office hours/virtual office hours;
• Assist with maintaining the Consolidated Rental Waitlist for the Inclusionary Housing Program;
• Assist with updating the Inclusionary Housing Pipeline spreadsheet and tracking applicant demographics including race, ethnicity, and other information at the direction of the Inclusionary Housing Program Manager;
• Coordinate fair housing training for property owners and property managers;
• Assist in preparing information on fair housing, federally funded, and/or Inclusionary and other programs as necessary for the Mayor’s Office and or City Council;
• Responsible for maintaining, monitoring and updating the City’s Subsidized Housing Inventory and related work monitoring status of expiring use properties;
• Administer the Closing Cost and Down Payment Assistance Programs and update program guidelines and various Program information;
• Present information on fair housing, the Inclusionary Housing Program and the Closing Cost and Down Payment Programs at first-time homebuyer training classes held by a local nonprofit;
• Complete property inspections for the Inclusionary Housing Program to verify unit readiness, comparable unit features to market rate, access to shared amenities, and to confirm layout for marketing;
• Review, lead discussions on, and revise Inclusionary Housing Program Policies for best alignment with Fair Housing initiatives and accessibility for applicants who are members of a protected class;
• Assist in preparation of reports on program activities, selected best-practice and/or other research, and survey preparation;
• Assist with other activities as assigned.

Minimum Qualifications

Education and Experience: Bachelor’s Degree and three (3) years’ experience; or any equivalent combination of education, training and experience which provides the required knowledge, skills and abilities to perform the essential functions of the job. 

Special Requirements

• Job duties  include attending some evening meetings as necessary.
• Bilingual or Multilingual lingual ability in Spanish, Portuguese, and/or Haitian-Creole is preferred but not required.

Knowledge, Abilities and Skill

Knowledge:  Some knowledge of and/or experience with strategies and programs geared toward maintaining and expanding affordable housing opportunities; knowledge of housing income certification process; federal and/or state fair housing law; strong knowledge of Excel, PowerPoint, Photoshop, Illustrator, and social media applications are preferred. Familiarity with virtual meeting platforms such as Zoom, Go to Meeting and Teams a plus. Familiarity with Mail Chimp a plus.

Abilities:  Position requires the ability to communicate effectively orally and in writing with other City departments, state and federal agencies, architects, contractors, developers, tenants, property owners, supervisors, employees, and the general public. Demonstrates the ability to work as a team member and maintain project timelines; continuous effort to improve operations, decrease turnaround times, streamline work processes, and work cooperatively and jointly to provide quality customer service to the public at-large.

Skills: This position requires strong skills in oral and written communication; excellent customer service skills. Bi-lingual ability in Spanish, Portuguese, and/or Haitian-Creole is preferred but not required.

Work Environment

The work environment involves everyday discomforts typical of offices, with occasional exposure to outside elements.  Noise or physical surroundings may be distracting, but conditions are generally not unpleasant.  Employee may be required to work beyond normal business hours in response to attend evening meetings or complete work assignments.

Physical and Mental Requirements

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the position’s essential functions.

Physical Skills

Minimal physical demands are required to perform the work. Work effort principally involves sitting to perform work tasks, with intermittent periods of stooping, walking, and standing. Work requires some agility such as moving in or about construction sites or over rough terrain. There may also be some occasional lifting of objects such as office equipment or photocopy paper (up to 30lbs.).

Motor Skills

Duties are largely mental rather than physical, but the job may occasionally require minimal motor skills for activities such as moving objects, operating a telephone, personal computer and/or most other office equipment including word processing, filing and sorting of papers.

Visual Skills

Visual demands require constantly reading documents for general understanding and analytical purposes.

Hours: Full-Time
Salary: $64,945.93 annualized, plus benefits
Union: Non-Union
FLSA: Non-Exempt
Date Posted: June 6, 2024

City of Somerville residents are especially encouraged to apply.

The City of Somerville is an affirmative action/equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, sex, religion, age, national origin, disability or any other protected category. Women, minorities, veterans, and persons with disabilities are encouraged to apply.

Auxiliary aids and services, written materials in alternative formats, and reasonable modifications in policies and procedures will be provided to qualified individuals with disabilities free of charge, upon request. Persons with disabilities who need auxiliary aids and services for effective communication (i.e., CART, ASL), written materials in alternative formats, or reasonable modifications in policies and procedures in order to access the programs, activities, and meetings of the City of Somerville should please contact Adrienne Pomeroy at 617-625-6600 x 2059 or apomeroy@somervillema.gov.

Pre-Employment Requirements for All Employees:

• MA Criminal Offender Record Information (CORI) clearance
• Completition of Conflict-of-Interest Law Education training for municipal employees

Overview of Total Rewards:

• 4 weeks annual vacation (for non-union positions) union positions vary by contract
• Medical insurance through the Group Insurance Commission (GIC) - 80% of premium costs paid by City
• Dental coverage low and high plans through Cigna
• Vision care through Vision Service Plan (VSP)
• Long term disability through Sun Life
• Group and voluntary life insurance through Boston Mutual
• Health Care and Dependent Care flexible spending through Benefit Strategies
• Deferred compensation plans through a choice of three vendors
• Free, confidential services through the Employee Assistance Program (EAP) provided by E4Health
• Annual cancer screening & wellness release
• Somerville Retirement Pension System
• Tuition reimbursement
• MBTA pass program
• FREE Blue Bikes membership
• Eligible employer for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program (PSLF)

Benefits listed are for benefits-eligible positions and the above information is meant to be a general overview of the benefit programs offered by the City of Somerville and not a binding contract.

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