Job Description

THIS IS A PROVISIONAL APPOINTMENT, WHEN A TEST BECOMES AVAILABLE IN THE ADMINISTRATIVE JOB OPPORTUNITY SPECIALIST TITLE, YOU MUST TAKE AND PASS THE EXAM TO REMAIN IN THE TITLE.

The Homelessness Prevention Administration (HPA) works to keep New Yorkers in their homes. HPA works with the Department of Homeless Services (DHS), the NYC Housing Authority (NYCHA) and many other organizations and City agencies to assist families and individuals in need in obtaining and maintaining stable, affordable housing.

The RAP Apartments unit responds to requests from the Department of Homeless Services (DHS) for approval for initial eligibility for participants applying for the CITYFHEPS rental subsidy program. The RAP Community to stay unit responds to requests from Non-for-Profit Organizations for rent in advance, eviction prevention and initial eligibility for the CITYFHEPS subsidy program.

Under managerial direction of the Assistant Deputy Commissioner, Rental Assistance Programs, with wide latitude for the exercise of independent judgement and initiative, serves as Administrative JOS NM-II to function as one of two directors within the Rental Assistance Program. This director will manage the RAP Apartments Unit and Community Unit within the Homelessness Prevention Administration (HPA) Legal Initiatives/Rental Assistance.

HPA/ Rental Assistance Program (RAP) is recruiting for one (1) Administrative Job Opportunity Specialist (NM II) to function as Director, RAP Apartments & Community Units who will:
Duties and Responsibilities:

- Direct, coordinate, and monitor the performance of the staff in the RAP Apartments and RAP Community to stay units within the ever-expanding workload of the Rental Assistance Program. Duties include conversion to new rental assistance programs and preparing the unit to absorb a 40% increase in work volume. Ensures the adherence to the goals, policies, and performance standards of the Homelessness Prevention Administration, as well as HRA, including ensuring that staff are properly assigned, receive proper training, and are properly evaluated.

- Direct RAP program participation in key DSS initiatives, such as Master Leasing, Cluster conversions to permanent housing, and Middle-Income leasing. The director must oversee the enrollment and ongoing maintenance of hundreds of units at the same time, requiring intensive overtime and processing during peak periods. These special programs have a very short project timeline and require coordinating hourly with DHS and applying discretion and managerial overrides when necessary. The director manages activities that are reported on daily to agency leadership, including the Commissioner.

- Serve as key program representative for HPA on the Landlord Management System (LMS), a massive enterprise project managed by BPI and built by Deloitte and ITS. Ensure that RAP business needs are represented and accounted for in the LMS. LMS will be HPA’s primary application, and the director will be responsible for ensuring the applicable program components are tested and staff adequately trained.

- Assist in the development and formulation of corrective action plans involving the RAP Apartments and RAP Community to stay within the Rental Assistance Program, which may include the development of the new procedures, appropriate policy directives and bulletins and additional staff training, to ensure the elimination of deficit areas and directs follow-up studies to ensure that corrective actions have been taken and that new procedures have been properly implemented.

- Intercede when supervisory staff alerts of any matters a higher level of involvement. As the approval amount on Community to stay eviction cases is often above $20,000 a director’s review is needed. Community cases can also have very complicated scenarios around ownership, potential fraud, reasonable accommodations, and exceptions to policy, all of which must be navigated quickly and correctly by the director.

- Liaise with appropriate governmental and non-governmental entities including New York City Housing Court judges, city agencies such as the Department of Homeless Services, the Department of Housing Preservation and Development, Adult Protective Services, New York Housing Authority, elected officials, and non-governmental housing and homeless service providers and community-based organizations in order to expedite the meeting of critical agency needs.

- Participate, through findings based on the review of data from a variety of sources including WMS, KRANG, CARES, NYCWAY, RADMS, FUTURE KRANG, and MIS, and through the evaluation of agency reports as well as reports of other government and non-profit institutions, in the formulation and analysis of policy issues as they relate to the RAP Apartments and Community to STAY Units.

Qualifications

Qualification Requirements

1. A baccalaureate degree from an accredited college or university, plus four years of satisfactory full-time experience performing work related to providing employment related services or economic support services to persons in need, at least eighteen months of this experience must have been in a supervisory or managerial capacity; or

2. A four-year high school diploma or its educational equivalent and eight years of full-time experience equivalent to "1" above; at least eighteen months of this experience must have been in a supervisory or managerial capacity; or

3. Education and/or experience equivalent to "1" or "2" above. College credits from an accredited college or university may be substituted for experience on the basis of 30 semester credits for one year; year of work experience. However, all candidates must have at least a four-year high school diploma or its educational equivalent and at least eighteen months of experience must have been in a supervisory or managerial capacity as described in "1" above.