Housing Access Voucher Program (HAVP) Owner Services Specialist for the Division of Tenant & Owner Resources

About the Agency:

The New York City Department of Housing Preservation (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.

Your Team:

The mission of the Office of Housing Access and Stability (HAS) is to ensure fair, efficient, and transparent access to affordable housing. HAS provides subsidies, placement services, and tools that connect New Yorkers to affordable housing and ensures vulnerable households in subsidized housing have the support they need to be safely housed. HAS is committed to expanding housing choices, affirmatively furthering fair housing, and stabilizing the financial health of buildings. HAS consists of the divisions of Housing Opportunity, Tenant and Owner Resources, Housing Stability, Budget and Program Operations, and Program Policy and Innovation.

The Division of Tenant and Owner Resources (DTOR), within HAS, is responsible for the administration of rental subsidy programs that serve over 45,000 households and 9,000 landlords in all five boroughs. These programs include the Housing Choice Voucher (HCV), Project Based Voucher (PBV), Moderate Rehab Section 8, Moderate Rehab Single Room Occupancy (SRO), and Continuum of Care-Shelter Plus Care (CoC-SPC), NYC 15/15, Housing Access Voucher Program (HAVP) and HOME Tenant-Based Rental Assistance (HOME TBRA).

Your Impact:

The Housing Access Voucher Program (HAVP) is a New York State funded tenant-based rental subsidy program that supports low-income families and individuals who are homeless, facing eviction, or are at imminent risk of losing their housing due to domestic violence or hazardous living conditions. The program would be available to New Yorkers who may be ineligible for local or federal rental assistance programs. HAVP would help low-income New Yorkers achieve stability and retain permanent housing by subsidizing their rent. Tenants would contribute 30% of their monthly income toward the rent, and the program covers the remaining amount. Through this support, HAVP provides a critical pathway out of homelessness and protects tenants at immediate risk of displacement.

Your Role:

Applicants who receive an HAVP voucher will search for a housing unit to rent. When they’ve located that unit, the property owner will be asked to complete and return the HPD HAVP Owner Package. The Owner Package collects the information needed to process and approve a housing unit and the property owner to receive a subsidy contract and the monthly payments. The Owner Services Unit receives, reviews and processes the submitted Owner Packages. Upon receipt of a completed HAVP Owner Package, the Owner Services Specialist, confirms property ownership, registers the owner for payments, determines the reasonable rent for the unit and initiates the scheduling of a Housing Quality Standards (HQS) inspection of the unit. In addition, the Owner Services Specialists provide general program support to participating owners and assist with periodic transactions such as property sales, owner contact information changes, and property management changes.

The HAVP Owner Services Specialist for the Division of Tenant & Owner Resources will be responsible for, but not limited to, the following:

- Complete Rent Reasonableness determinations

- Review HPD Owner Packages for completeness

- Determine owners' eligibility to participate in the HPD subsidy program.

- Register owners with NYC vendor systems to receive HPD subsidy payments

- Process owner’s changes of address/ownership request

- Coordinate with the inspection unit to schedule inspections

- Provide customer service to property owners and their staff

- Attend mandatory trainings

Preferred skills:

- Excellent Communication Skills (both orally and in writing)

- Strong Customer Service Focus

- Proficiency in Word, Excel and Access

- Ability to perform accurate and detailed mathematical calculations

- Bilingual a Plus

- Rental Subsidy experience a Plus

COMMUNITY ASSOCIATE - 56057

Qualification Requirements
1. High school graduation or equivalent and three years of experience in community work or community centered activities in an area related to duties described above; or
2. Education and/or experience which is equivalent to "1" 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.