About the Agency:

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 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:

- 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.

- 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 Associate Commissioner of Neighborhood Strategies.

Your Impact:

As the Deputy Director for Pre-Development Planning and Urban Design, you will help lead a talented group of professionals and experts at the forefront of HPD’s new construction pre-development pipeline. Over the past decade, Pre-Development has been responsible for shaping and reviewing requests for proposals (RFPs) for projects across hundreds of sites that will generate tens of thousands of affordable homes, dozens of new community facilities, as well as significant new retail opportunities in neighborhoods across the five boroughs. The team also plays a leading role in developing and testing innovative approaches to confronting the broader affordability crises faced by the city and supporting equity in planning through work on initiatives around M/WBE participation and affordable housing development by faith-based organizations.

Your Role:

Your role will be to support the Director in developing, implementing, and managing all Predevelopment Planning activities. The Deputy Director helps to create, train, and manage a team of energetic, thoughtful, and engaged urban planners and designers who work together to create RFPs for the development of city-owned development parcels and to manage the review and selection process.

Your Responsibilities:

- Work independently to effectively drive forward a select portfolio of high-priority and/or complex projects along a critical path toward RFP creation, issuance, review, and designation, while coordinating input from community members, technical experts, agency partners, and agency leadership
- Undertake site analysis studies; perform basic real estate development and financial feasibility analysis of project proposals, or coordinate with other expert teams to perform such analysis
- Work with planners to troubleshoot and navigate complex planning issues as they arise in projects
- Review the work of fellow Pre-Development planners before sending to Director for sign-off
- Ensure that equity and design excellence is upheld as a priority at each stage of the review and selection process
- Work collaboratively with Borough Planning Directors and Planners, as well as other NYC agencies, such as the Economic Development Corporation, Department of City Planning, New York City Housing Authority, for- and non-profit housing and community developers, Community Boards and local organizations, public officials, and neighborhood residents through the predevelopment process
- At the discretion of the Director, represent the unit at requested meetings
- Participate and assist in neighborhood workshops, as necessary
- Advise Director on policy issues and potential solutions
- Assist Director in creating, implementing, and maintaining consistent, efficient operational procedures

Preferred skills:

- Thorough knowledge of New York City government and housing issues
- Experience with community engagement, organizing and facilitating public meetings
- Excellent research, analytical, writing, and public speaking skills
- Superior project management skills
- Demonstrated ability to meet deadlines and manage multiple projects in a timely manner
- Proficiency in GIS, Adobe Creative Suite, and Microsoft Office applications, including Excel and PowerPoint
- Demonstrated experience managing and/or mentoring staff
- Experience creating and designing materials for internal and public consumption, including presentations, maps, and reports
- Stong operational skills, including project tracking and reporting, and ability to suggest and work towards process improvements
- Experience working with organizations and residents of racially, economically and culturally diverse neighborhoods
- Ability to work independently, take initiative, and work effectively with others

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.