Deputy Director for Owner Engagement & Events

Job Description

The New York City Department of Housing Preservation and 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 Neighborhood Strategies (ONS) is charged with ensuring that HPD’s development and preservation efforts are guided by meaningful community engagement and coordinated with public investments in infrastructure and services, as put forth in the Mayor's Housing Plan.

ONS is composed of two divisions and a cross-divisional unit reporting to the Associate Commissioner:

- The Division of Neighborhood Development & Stabilization (ND&S) leads the agency's commitment to neighborhood planning and strategic preservation through engagement with tenants, landlords, community leaders, and neighborhood stakeholders as we work to enable strong and healthy neighborhoods anchored by affordable housing. The advertised position is a part of this division.
- The Division of Planning & Predevelopment (P&P) is central to developing and managing HPD's housing production pipeline from project proposal phases through the land use review and entitlement process, to ensure that HPD's investments contribute to building strong, healthy, resilient neighborhoods in all five boroughs.
- The Strategic Initiatives Unit leads special ONS initiatives and provides essential technical, planning, and policy support to staff and the Associate Commissioner of Neighborhood Strategies.

Your Impact:

As a Deputy Director for Owner Engagement & Events, you will help develop, manage, and lead the implementation of innovative programs to educate homeowners and multifamily property owners about their responsibilities and available resources to maintain safe, high quality, and affordable housing. The team implements these programs in close collaboration with a wide range of stakeholders, including community groups, government agencies, and elected officials

Your Role:

The Division of Neighborhood Development and Stabilization is seeking an enthusiastic candidate with excellent project management skills, knowledge of housing issues (with an emphasis on issues affecting homeowners and multifamily property owners), the ability to effectively collaborate with community and government partners, and a commitment to racial equity and social justice. Your role will be to support the Owner Engagement and Events Director in leading new strategies to protect homeowners from displacement and managing the owner engagement and support programs, including the Office of the Homeowner Advocate, Homeowner Help Desk, tax lien sale outreach, and the Zombie Homes Initiative.

The Deputy Director will help ensure compliance with Local Law 125 of 2023, which mandates that the Department of Housing Preservation and Development create the Office of the Homeowner Advocate. The responsibilities for this new Office include maintaining a resource webpage for homeowners, managing coordination with external partners, leading data collection, and preparing reports as required by the legislation.

The Homeowner Help Desk is a collaboration between HPD and community-based organizations to connect struggling homeowners with housing counseling, financial assistance, legal services, and tax lien sale assistance. As part of the Homeowner Help Desk, the Deputy Director will provide overall program support and manage the tax lien sale outreach to notify owners included in the tax lien sale list of relevant homeownership counseling and support services that can help owners apply for assistance to remove their property from the tax lien sale.

Through the Zombie Homes Initiative, HPD conducts exterior surveys of small vacant and abandoned homes and h