Director, Rental Preservation Team for the Division of Preservation Finance

Job description

About the Agency: The Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) oversees housing standards across all 3.7 million homes in New York City. As the nation’s largest municipal housing agency, HPD is responsible for building and preserving affordable housing, protecting tenants from harassment and displacement, and holding landlords accountable across the five boroughs. Under Commissioner Dina Levy and the Mamdani Administration, HPD is pursuing an ambitious housing agenda focused on the needs of New York’s tenants. With a broad set of tools including standards enforcement, tenant resources, and the creation of new affordable housing, HPD is committed to making New York City a more affordable place for renters and homeowners alike. Your Team: The Office of Development (OOD) leads the agency’s effort to create and preserve housing in collaboration with other HPD offices as well as other city, state and federal agencies, and the New York City Housing Development Corporation (HDC). The Office of Development is composed of nine divisions that administer a range of programs: - Executive Office of Operations and Policy - New Construction Finance - Special Needs Housing - Building and Land Development Services (BLDS) - Homeownership Opportunities and Preservation - Preservation Finance - Portfolio Management and Conversions - Housing Incentives - Compliance and Enforcement The Division of Preservation Finance administers multiple financing programs to improve financial and physical conditions and preserve or create affordability within privately-owned multi-family and single-family buildings. The division oversees programs utilizing low-cost loans and property tax benefits among other public incentives. Your Impact: The Division of Preservation Finance seeks a Director for the Rental Preservation Team (RPT) with experienced professional with strong leadership and management abilities. Under the supervision of the Executive Director, you will be one of three Directors overseeing multiple financing programs which include a range of financing solutions and programs that pair tax exemptions or tax exemptions and public subsidy with private funding to meet project needs and preserve affordability. Programs include the Participation Loan Program (PLP), the Multi-Family Preservation Loan Program (MPLP), Housing Preservation Opportunities Program (HPO), Neighborhood Pillars (Pillars), The Capital Partnership for Affordable Renovations Program (CPAR), and Third Party Transfer (TPT). Your Role: In your role as the Director, you will lead a highly competent staff of project managers and will work with developers, syndicators, lenders and other key entities to evaluate and approve proposed preservation strategies, evaluate changes to project ownership, assess requests for tax exemptions to determine project feasibility, determine rehabilitation work, and assess acquisition proposals. As the Director, you will have primary responsibility for continuing program policy development and for ensuring that transactions are completed on a timely basis. You will represent the Division at relevant meetings to convey the department’s position on portfolio preservation strategies and other related issues and will perform other duties necessary for the success of the program including coordination with other City and State partners as well as presenting at conferences. As Director, you will interact with and manage relationships with a variety of internal and external public and private development partners, including the Housing Development Corporation, the City's Office of Management and Budget, banks, tax credit syndicators, for and not-for-profit developers and other national development intermediaries. This position supports work with Mitchell-Lama and HDFC buildings. As Director, you will have a primary responsibility for overseeing underwriting and project management, ensuring high-quality output from project management staff, securing necessary transaction approvals, and ensuring projects are executed, closed and completed in a timely manner. The Director is also responsible for handling administrative functions such as budget forecasting, reporting and compliance requirements. In addition, you will work on program improvements and policy development, including extensive work streamlining program processes and implementing new agency policies in projects. Your Responsibilities: As Director, you will perform duties including, but not limited to the following: - Overseeing staff in their performance of general project management duties as needed, including facilitating all necessary approvals related to project closings, troubleshooting projects in construction, facilitating project completion and preparing recommendations for workouts prior to permanent loan conversion; - Conducting and/or reviewing advanced financial modeling with an emphasis on affordability analysis, loan sizing, real estate tax benefit analysis, and cash flow projections; - Supervising the review and analysis of underwriting and preservation proposals submitted by project sponsors and making recommendations to the Executive Director and Assistant Commissioner about project feasibility; - Assisting the teams with facilitating approvals necessary for closings, including credit approval; - In collaboration with program staff, managing the development pipeline for the financing programs and ensuring timely closing, completion, and conversion of projects; - Identifying opportunities for improved processes and procedures for the program and implementing new agency policies and initiatives into the programs and projects. - Establishing appropriate productivity measures and working effectively with them to achieve staff, program, and agency goals; - Responding in a timely manner to requests for information and overseeing the production of detailed reports, memoranda, presentations, and written correspondence regarding projects, programs, new initiatives, or other special projects, as needed. - Working with developers, financial institutions, community groups, and other governmental agencies to preserve affordable housing; - Successful execution of programs to effectively create project clusters in order to convey properties to new ownership for the rehabilitation and preservation of affordable housing; identifying property clusters for development and matching with qualified developers through Requests for Qualifications (RFQs) processes - Managing administrative functions such as budget forecasting, reporting and compliance requirements; - Representing the Executive Director on behalf of the agency or Program at internal and external meetings; including presenting program materials at interagency meetings, meetings with elected officials, and tenant meetings; - Managing special projects, including development and implementation of preservation initiatives and strategies; - Collaborating with other HPD divisions to achieve agency goals, as well as to identify, monitor and/or resolve project, program, and policy issues; - Overseeing budget and operations of Neighborhood Restore HDFC while coordinating property management of TPT properties until ownership transfer at construction loan closing. - Preparing City land use approval submissions for City owned properties and working to marshal agency recommendations through the City Council review process required for property transfer. Preferred Skills You should have strong managerial experience, a record of achieving results in a fast-paced environment, experience managing programs as well as seeking ways to improve programs and procedures, strong financial analysis skills including financial modeling and financial statement analysis, and be detailed-oriented, self-motivated, and able to manage multiple projects and meet deadlines. As a successful candidate, you should also demonstrate strong verbal and written communication skills. Preference will be given to candidates with strong management experience, a proven track-record of closing transactions, a strong financial background (including underwriting experience), knowledge of real estate development, affordable housing finance, housing development/lending, and knowledge of HPD development programs, demonstrated analytical skills, and ability to work effectively with others to obtain results promptly. Candidates with master's in real estate finance, Business Administration, Public Administration or Planning and related fields are strongly preferred. Strong facility with Excel and Word required. Knowledge of Access and PowerPoint preferred. Please note, finalist for this position must have filed for the Open Competitive Associate Housing Development Specialist exam #4122 or promotional exam #4570. In addition, the position is open to applicants who are already permanent in the Associate Housing Development Specialist title, or permanent in another comparable civil service title. Candidates must indicate permanent civil service title(s) on resume. ASSOCIATE HOUSING DEVELOPMENT - 22508 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. 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.