About the Agency:

The New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) is the nation’s largest municipal housing preservation and development agency. Its mission is to promote quality housing and diverse, thriving neighborhoods for New Yorkers through loan and development programs for new affordable housing, preservation of the affordability of the existing housing stock, enforcement of housing quality standards, rental subsidies, and educational programs for tenants and building owners. HPD is tasked with fulfilling Mayor Adams’s housing plan "Housing Our Neighbors: A Blueprint for Housing and Homelessness", a comprehensive framework which includes $5 billion in new capital funding, bringing the administration’s planned investment to $22 billion the largest in the city’s history. This investment, coupled with an aggressive effort to reduce administrative and regulatory barriers, is a multi-pronged strategy to tackle New York City’s affordable housing crisis and bolster access to opportunity, promote economic stability and mobility, improve health and safety, and increase racial equity.

Your Team:

HPD implements housing recovery and resiliency programs as part of the City’s CDBG-DR Hurricane Ida Recovery. On the evening of Wednesday, September 1, 2021, the remnants of Hurricane Ida reached New York. Although the storm had been reclassified as a post-tropical cyclone by that point, it broke the City’s record for the most single-hour rainfall, caused widespread flooding and hundreds of millions of dollars of damage, and took the lives of 13 people within New York City. HPD’s programs support disaster relief, long-term recovery, restoration of infrastructure and housing, economic revitalization, and mitigation, in the most impacted and distressed areas following Hurricane Ida.

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 Deputy Commissioner:

- 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 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 Strategic Initiatives Unit leads special ONS initiatives and provides essential technical, planning, and policy support to staff and the Deputy Commissioner of Neighborhood Strategies.

Climate and Social Resiliency Planning and Policy Unit (CSRPP): Sitting within the Division of Planning & Predevelopment, the mission of CSRPP is to ensure the agency’s planning and policy initiatives promote household and community access to safe, quality, and affordable housing, even in the face of current and future risks from climate change, and other physical, economic, and social shocks and stressors.

Your Impact:

As the Deputy Director, Climate and Social Resiliency Planning and Policy in the Office of Neighborhood Strategies, reporting to the Director, you will play a key role on a team that helps set agency policy and procedures for development and preservation efforts that respond to climate-related hazards and risks and other social resiliency challenges. This includes supporting the Agency’s implementation of its post-Ida CDBG-DR funded work program, providing programmatic support for current and future studies, and supporting staff supervision and defining team priorities.

Your Role:

Your role will support the Director in a number of ways including project management, land use planning, policy development, contract management, research and analyses, and coordination with internal and external entities to inform the broader work of the Climate and Social Resiliency Planning unit. This position will entail analyzing housing, environmental, and social and demographic data to inform projects and policy development. This will include ensuring HPD-funded housing not only meets climate resiliency guidelines but exceeds them where possible and that HPD’s housing efforts broadly are achieving social resiliency goals for neighborhoods and the city as a whole.

This role will also require coordinating policy and program implementation with HPD’s Office of Development, Office of Policy and Strategy, the Mayor’s Office of Climate and Environmental Justice (MOCEJ), the Mayor’s Office of Housing Recovery Operations (HRO), and a host of other City agencies, including the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), NYC Emergency Management (NYCEM), and the Departments of City Planning (DCP), Buildings (DOB), Parks and Recreation (DPR), and Environmental Protection (DEP).

Your Responsibilities:

The Division of Planning and Predevelopment in ONS seeks a Deputy Director to support the Climate and Social Resiliency Planning and Policy Unit’s work.

Reporting to the Director of CSRPP, the Deputy Director’s responsibilities would include, but not be limited to:

- Support current and future post-Ida resiliency planning efforts at HPD funded through CDBG-DR Hurricane Ida Action Plan in close coordination with other staff at Office of Neighborhood Strategies and Office of Development.
- Working closely with the Director, advise HPD on policy decisions, programs and other strategic efforts to achieve the City’s climate resiliency goals in Housing our Neighbors, PlaNYC, LL41 (Climate Resiliency Design Guidelines), NPCC4, EJNYC and other key climate initiatives.
- Identify and pursue climate resiliency funding sources for mitigation planning and capital implementation, particularly in Ida-affected areas. Provide key programmatic and administrative support to implement federally funded projects.
- Advise HPD staff on housing development efforts in communities subject to climate hazards, and support planning and implementation efforts in HPD neighborhood focus areas, particularly in Ida-affected communities.
- In coordination with other teams at HPD, support agency initiatives on social resiliency and environmental justice efforts. Develop and manage climate and social resiliency research, knowledge sharing, and collaborative partnership efforts.
- Represent the Unit at HPD internal, interagency, and City Hall meetings on resiliency planning and policy matters, providing input and feedback, as well as providing oversight of staff as needed.

Preferred skills

- Advanced knowledge of climate resiliency, disaster recovery, and environmental justice concepts, policy, and best practices
- Knowledge of New York City zoning, land use planning, building code, and regulatory requirements as well as experience or interest in state and federal regulatory requirements
- Experience with applying for and managing federally funded grants, especially HUD and FEMA programs.
- Experience conducting studies, writing reports, and conducting meetings with community and governmental partners .
- Ability to work independently, take initiative, and work effectively with others.
- Detail oriented, self-motivated, and able to meet program goals and deadlines.
- Strong verbal and written communication skills
- Demonstrated analytic skills and ability to work effectively with others to obtain results promptly.
- Candidates selected for the Deputy Director role will be required to complete the Open Competitive Associate Housing Development Specialist (AHDS) Examination (Exam No. 4122) to remain in the title and be permanently appointed. Exam No. 4122 will open on March 6, 2024, and conclude on March 26, 2024.

- Selected candidates will be asked to provide written confirmation by March 26, 2024, that they have filed to take the Open Competitive Associate Housing Development Specialist, Exam 4122.

1.A baccalaureate degree from an accredited college or university and three years of full-time satisfactory professional experience in the development, appraisal, financing, negotiation, or disposition of real estate, or in real estate law, or in urban planning or analytical or coordination work related to housing programs; or

2. A four year high school diploma or its educational equivalent approved by a State's Department of Education or a recognized accrediting organization and seven years of full-time satisfactory experience as described in "1" above; or

3.A satisfactory combination of education and/or experience which is equivalent to "1" or "2" above. Graduate study in the field of urban studies, city planning, business or public administration, finance, architecture, engineering or other related fields may be substituted for up to one year of the required experience on the basis of 30 credits equaling one year of experience. Graduation from an accredited law school may be substituted for one year of the required experience. However, all candidates must have at least two years of experience as described above.

This position is also open to qualified persons with a disability who are eligible for the 55-a Program. Please indicate at the top of your resume and cover letter that you would like to be considered for the position through the 55-a Program.

As a prospective employee of the City of New York, you may be eligible for federal loan forgiveness programs and state repayment assistance programs. For more information, please visit the U.S. Department of Education’s website at https://studentaid.gov/pslf/.

New York City residency is generally required within 90 days of appointment. However, City Employees in certain titles who have worked for the City for 2 continuous years may also be eligible to reside in Nassau, Suffolk, Putnam, Westchester, Rockland, or Orange County. To determine if the residency requirement applies to you, please discuss with the agency representative at the time of interview.

The City of New York is an inclusive equal opportunity employer committed to recruiting and retaining a diverse workforce and providing a work environment that is free from discrimination and harassment based upon any legally protected status or protected characteristic, including but not limited to an individual's sex, race, color, ethnicity, national origin, age, religion, disability, sexual orientation, veteran status, gender identity, or pregnancy.