Deputy Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion/Equal Employment Opportunity

Job Description

The New York City Department of Housing Preservation & Development (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.

HPD is entrusted with fulfilling these objectives through the goals and strategies of “Housing Our Neighbors: A Blueprint for Housing and Homelessness,” Mayor Adams’ comprehensive housing framework. To support this important work, the administration has committed $5 billion in new capital funding, bringing the 10-year planned investment in housing to $22 billion the largest in the city’s history. This investment, coupled with a commitment to reduce administrative and regulatory barriers, is a multi-pronged strategy to tackle New York City’s complex housing crisis, by addressing homelessness and housing instability, promoting economic stability and mobility, increasing homeownership opportunities, improving health and safety, and increasing opportunities for equitable growth.


Your Team:

The Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion/Equal Employment Opportunity (“ODEI/EEO”) forwards the mission of HPD to construct and preserve affordable housing by ensuring that all internally- and externally-facing policies, programs and procedures are created and executed with an intersectional equity lens that focuses on wellness both for employees and the public we serve. The Office also serves an important compliance role, ensuring that anti-discrimination laws are enforced. The Office is transitioning to focus even more on equity and inclusion, paying close attention to race, gender, and disability as intersectional lenses to help uncover barriers to accessing resources and opportunities.

The Office works both internally and externally to ensure that the agency is as responsive as possible to the diverse public we serve through building partnerships with neighborhoods, communities and organizations. The Office also acts as a one-stop resource with regard to equity and as a liaison for HPD to equity initiatives throughout the city. Finally, the Office is committed to educating HPD’s workforce about equity and inclusion strategies and equal employment opportunity policies, as well as state and local anti-discrimination laws, in order to better equip our staff to work together and with the public in an unbiased and professional manner.

Your Role:

The Deputy Director will assist with all aspects of HPD’s Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and compliance with all federal, state, and local policies, procedures and regulations around Equal Employment Opportunity. The Deputy Director will:

Required skills:

This position requires demonstrable knowledge of federal, state and local employment and disability laws and an understanding of the landscape in New York City with regard to diversity, equity and inclusion.

You will work with agency stakeholders and partners towards identifying and reducing job- and program-related barriers to staff and clients with disabilities.
- Work with agency stakeholders and partners toward identifying and reducing job- and program-related barriers to staff and clients with disabilities.
- Developing agency policies and procedures to ensure full programmatic and communication accessibility for persons with disabilities; providing accessible notices to members of the public advising them of their rights under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the New York State Human Rights Law, the New York City Human Rights Law, and associated regulations related to persons with disabilities, as well as the agency’s ADA grievance procedure; and serving as the primary contact within HPD for persons with disabilities requesting auxiliary services.
- Respond to inquiries from members of the public concerning accessibility; assist in the investigation of any complaint alleging noncompliance with the ADA and/or other applicable federal, state, and local laws relating to people with disabilities, or alleging any actions that would be prohibited by such laws; document and maintain records of complaints made pursuant to the ADA and other applicable laws; and forward such complaints to the Mayor’s Office for People with Disabilities (MOPD).
- Process requests for Reasonable Accommodations from the public and employees.
- Conduct live EEO trainings for all HPD employees and identify and administer other relevant trainings as needed.
- Assist in the preparation and submission of timely and accurate quarterly and annual reports; collaborate with departments to gather and analyz