Office of Housing Stability-NU05-Director of the Office of Housing Stability — File 205030

City of Somerville, Massachusetts Job Description Office of Housing Stability-NU05-Director of Housing Stability 1 Position Title: Director of Housing Stability Grade Level: NU05 Department: Office of Housing Stability Date: 01/19/2018 Reports to: Executive Director of OSPCD FLSA Status: Exempt Statement of Duties The Director will be responsible for operating the Office of Housing Stability. To be effective in this role, the Director must be an excellent manager, public speaker and housing policy advocate. As the Office of Housing Stability is the central point of contact for individuals seeking housing opportunities or advice, the Director must ensure that all cases handled by the office are effectively managed. In addition, the Director must also serve as a policy advocate, with the ability to coordinate resources and partners across a wide range of stakeholders to ensure residents are able to retain their homes. Essential Functions: The essential functions or duties listed below are intended only as illustrations of the various type of work that may be performed. The omission of specific statements of duties does not exclude them from the position if the work is similar, related, or a logical assignment to the position. ● Manage a staff to assist residents in danger of eviction, displacement and homelessness with information, access to legal assistance, and resources to find housing they can afford. ● Closely monitor all cases coming into the Office of Housing Stability for timely follow up, appropriate response and effective outcomes.  Maintain an active and regularly updated inventory of current affordable housing opportunities for Office of Housing Stability ● Build a strong team of case managers and policy advocates within the Office of Housing Stability and provide staff with the regular training, coaching and leadership they need to succeed. ● Partner with external agencies to assist tenants in maintaining stable housing through Court proceedings. ● Champion the development and implementation of new policies, programs, and legislation that assists tenants facing displacement to remain in their homes. ● Work closely with landlords, management companies, housing authorities, and tenants to support housing solutions, help residents stay housed, and find new affordable opportunities. ● Support City’s efforts to assist Somerville residents with housing needs in case of fire or natural disaster. ● Maintain an inventory of services available to Somerville residents in housing crisis at external partner agencies and non-profits. Work with these partners to define what case types will be referred out and what will be managed by the Office of Housing Stability. ● Review funding award recommendations under the Emergency Solutions Grant (ESG) to external vendors to perform such services as: housing counseling, eviction prevention, tenancy preservation, housing search, and rapid re-housing for homeless households and those at risk of homelessness. ● Use case management software to ensure every case is consistently tracked, time-lines for

City of Somerville, Massachusetts Job Description Office of Housing Stability-NU05-Director of Housing Stability 2 case resolutions are met, and staff are accountable for producing results. Develop reports and dashboards to regularly demonstrate how the office is performing against its strategic goals. ● Perform related work as required. Supervision Required Under administrative direction for a division, working from municipal policies and objectives, individual establishes short-range plans and objectives; own performance standards and assumes direct accountability for department results; and may act as an independently appointed official over a department. Consults with supervisor only in instances for which clarification, interpretation, or exception to municipal policy may be required. The employee is responsible for the development and implementation of departmental policies, goals, objectives and budgets. The employee is also expected to attempt to resolve conflicts which arise and coordinate with others as necessary. Supervisory Responsibility Employee is accountable for the direction and success of all department programs accomplished through others. The employee is responsible for analyzing program objectives, determining the various work operations needed to achieve them, estimating the financial and staff resources required, allocating the available funds and staff, reporting periodically on the achievement and status of the program objective; and recommending new goals. The employee typically formulates or recommends program goals and develops plans for achieving short and long-range objectives; determines organizational structure operating guidelines and work operations; formulates, prepares and defends budget and manpower requests and accounts for effective use of funds and staff provided; coordinates program efforts within the unit and with other departments; delegates authority to subordinate supervisors and holds them responsible for the performance of their unit's work; reviews work in terms of accomplishment of program objectives and progress reports, approves standards establishing quality and quantity of work; and assists or oversees the personnel function, including or effectively recommending hiring, training, and disciplining of employees. Accountability Duties include division level responsibility for technical processes, service delivery, and contribution to municipal wide plans and objectives and fiscal responsibility for the department including buildings, equipment and staffing utilization. Consequences of errors, missed deadlines or poor judgment could severely jeopardize department operations or have extensive financial and/or legal repercussions to the municipality. Judgment Guidelines only provide limited guidance for performing the work. They may be in the form of administrative or organizational policies, general principals, legislation or directives that pertain to a specific department or functional area. Extensive judgment and ingenuity are required to develop new or adapt existing methods and approaches for accomplishing objectives or to deal with new or unusual requirements within the limits of the guidelines or policies. The employee is recognized as the department or functional area’s authority in interpreting the guidelines, in determining how they should be applied, and in developing operating policies and practices.

City of Somerville, Massachusetts Job Description Office of Housing Stability-NU05-Director of Housing Stability 3 Complexity The work consists of employing many different concepts, theories, principles, techniques, and practices relating to an administrative field. Assignments typically concern such matters as studying trends in the field for application to the work, assessing services and recommending improvements. Nature and Purpose of Public Contact Relationships are constantly with co-workers, local, state, and federal officials, the public, groups and/or individuals who have conflicting opinions or objectives, diverse points of view or differences where skillful negotiating and achieving compromise is required to secure support, concurrence and acceptance or compliance; or one-on-one relationships with a person who may be under severe stress, where gaining a high degree of persuasion may be required to obtain the desired effect. The employee may represent to the public a functional area of the municipality on matters of procedures or policy where perceptiveness is required to analyze circumstances in order to act appropriately. Confidentiality Has regular access at the division level to a wide variety of confidential information, including official personnel files, law suits, criminal records/investigations, client records, department records, and client conversations in accordance with the state public records law. Recommended Minimum Qualifications: Education and Experience: Bachelor’s Degree in Urban Policy, Urban Planning, Public Policy, Public Administration, Real Estate Development, or other relevant program and five to seven- (5-7) years of experience in municipal housing functions, or related work experience, including project management experience in guiding complex organizational change and policy development of which three (3) years must have been in a supervisory capacity; or any equivalent combination of education, training and experience which provides the required knowledge, skills and abilities to perform the essential functions of the job. Master's degree in public policy, social work, business or public administration or related fields strongly preferred. Knowledge, Abilities and Skill Knowledge: Knowledge of landlord/tenant rights and responsibilities; knowledge of innovative financing mechanisms; knowledge of basic underwriting and project evaluation skills; working knowledge of state and federal housing legislation and regulations; familiarity with housing programs and services offered by the City of Somerville and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Ability: Ability to meet and communicate with the public effectively and appropriately; ability to handle problems and emergencies effectively; ability to communicate clearly, both orally and in writing; ability to operate a computer; ability to maintain confidential information; ability to maintain, manage, and organize records; ability to deal appropriately with City employees, City officials and the general public; ability to exercise good judgment and focus on detail as required by the job; ability to facilitate conflict mediation; ability to lead a diverse team of individuals to accomplish department goals.

City of Somerville, Massachusetts Job Description Office of Housing Stability-NU05-Director of Housing Stability 4 Skill: Strong written and oral communication skills; excellent organizational, problem solving and communication skills; exceptional customer service skills and ability to work with the public. Work Environment The work environment involves everyday discomforts typical of offices, with occasional exposure to outside elements. Noise or physical surroundings may be distracting, but conditions are generally not unpleasant. Employee may be required to work beyond normal business hours to attend evening meetings. Physical and Mental Requirements The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the position’s essential functions. Physical Skills Little or no physical demands are required to perform the work. Work effort principally involves sitting to perform work tasks, with intermittent periods of stooping, walking, and standing. There may also be some occasional lifting of objects such as books, office equipment and computer paper (up to 30 lbs.) Motor Skills Duties are largely mental rather than physical, but the job may occasionally require minimal motor skills for activities such as moving objects, operating a telephone system, computer and/or most other office equipment, typing and/or word processing, filing, and sorting. Visual Skills Visual demands include constantly reading documents for general understanding and for analytical purposes and routinely reviewing maps and blueprints with a need for color vision.