Co-op Preservation, Project Associate (Bilingual Preferred)

The Urban Homesteading Assistance Board (UHAB) seeking a Co-op Preservation Project Associates. The primary function of this role is to work with affordable housing co-op residents to protect and strengthen their housing. The ideal candidate will be passionate about housing justice and eager to learn about the affordable cooperative housing models and other related policy issues. Because many of the residents we serve are monolingual Spanish speakers, we are prioritizing English/Spanish bilingual applicants for this position.

About UHAB

UHAB empowers low- to moderate-income residents to take control of their housing and enhance communities by creating strong tenant associations and lasting affordable co-ops. Since 1973, UHAB has helped form hundreds of tenant associations and transformed troubled rental buildings into 1,200 affordable co-ops, providing homeownership opportunities for over 25,000 families. With democratic community control at the core of our mission, we work to sustain this thriving affordable housing community for this generation and those to come.

We organize residents to be active participants and decision-makers in shaping their neighborhoods. UHAB’s programs address a full spectrum of affordable housing needs: from building resident power and organizing tenants as community leaders, to developing thousands of units of affordable housing across the Bronx, Queens, Brooklyn, and Manhattan, to making small loans to first-time homeowners, to preserving affordable co-ops through training, education, and technical assistance. UHAB’s programs address the needs of future generations through long-term solutions: developing new affordable co-ops, increasing energy efficiency and introducing renewable technologies, and strengthening housing policy.

About the Preservation Department

Co-op Preservation staff are a dedicated team that works to support existing low-income housing cooperatives (HDFCs and Mitchell Lamas)) and city-owned buildings converting to cooperatives, through technical, organizational, and financial planning assistance, including loan packaging and workouts for distressed housing co-ops.

The Training and Technical Assistance contract team give free technical assistance to over 1,300 HDFCs and nearly 80 city-owned buildings undergoing co-op conversion across the city.
The Preservation Monitoring team provide contractual compliance assistance to over 200 HDFCs
Our Co-op Improvement Program works with building residents of distressed co-ops to create individualized remediation work-out plans.
Under our newly acquired Mitchell Lama training and technical assistance contract, Project Associates will work with 37 Michell Lama projects across the city providing Training and Technical assistance.

Responsibilities

The Project Associate works with the Director of the team or contract you join, to assess the overall needs of each co-op and develop a strategy to assist, stabilize and improve each one. Additionally, you will work with the Senior Director of Co-op Preservation and the Director of Contracts on an as needed basis.

The PA will:

Provide technical assistance and referrals to a portfolio of HDFC co-ops, city-owned buildings converting to cooperatives or Mitchell lama Cooperatives.
Help boards of directors and shareholders organize effectively to improve the performance of their co-op. Work to identify problems, clarify goals, and implement plans to meet those goals
Attend in-person meetings (often in the evening), in addition to virtual meetings with co-op residents and leaders on an as- needed basis
Monitor and facilitate elections of co-op boards
Provide financial planning support, such as budget creation and loan packaging
Maintain open lines of communication, positive working relationships, and high levels of trust with building leaders and residents
Create reports to enable the organization to track and bill for services provided under the contracts that support our work.
Participate in UHAB wide meetings, committees & activities and contribute to improving and promoting the

Qualifications

What matters most for a candidate coming into this role is not expertise, but having a curious nature and a positive attitude. Our team provides training on various topics relevant to the work and offers support throughout the first year to ensure a strong onboarding process. However, from the start, we believe that the successful candidate must be able to demonstrate that they have certain talents and attributes, including the ability to:

Fluently speak English and Spanish (preferred)
Establish productive trust-based relationships with residents and leaders of limited-equity housing cooperatives
Establish effective professional relationships with real estate professionals, particularly property managers, bank representatives, and government officials
Proficiently use Microsoft Office, especially Excel
Research government regulations and legal documents and interpret them to concerned parties
Express oneself clearly and persuasively in speech and in writing
Work both independently and as part of a team
Maintain positive relationships, even under conditions of some adversity and pressure
Utilize a problem solving/dispute resolution style that favors flexibility and creativity
The interview will be conducted in English and Spanish for bilingual candidates.

Location

UHAB’s work is carried out from our main office in Lower Manhattan This position is hybrid, requiring a minimum of 2 days per week working in the office, extensive on-site/field evening visits, and attendance at events across NYC, as well as some allowance to work from home.

Compensation

The salary for this position is $63,388 annually.

UHAB offers a generous benefits package including free and affordable medical and dental plans; long-term disability insurance; a 403b retirement plan; medical and dependent care flexible spending accounts; 3 weeks of paid vacation for new employees and 4 weeks of paid vacation after 1 year of employment; 13 paid holidays, 3 Floating Holidays, 12 sick days, 8 remote flex days and 1 personal day per year.

We are proud that UHAB’s staff is unionized with RWDSU. The candidate hired into this role will be part of the collective bargaining unit and benefit from the terms and protections of the union contract.

To apply

Please submit a cover letter and resume via the ADP application portal (applications without a resume and cover letter will not be considered).

Equal Opportunity Employer

UHAB works with a diverse community of tenants, community members and co-op shareholders and believes that the UHAB Staff should reflect this diversity. Women, people of color, LBGTQ+ people, and people with lived experience of economic and housing instability are encouraged to apply. UHAB is an equal opportunity employer.

Learn more about this Employer on their Career Site

Project Associate, Co-op Preservation