About the Agency:

The New York City Department of Housing Preservation & 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.

Job Description:

Your Team:

The Office of Equal Employment Opportunity (the Office) forwards the mission of HPD to construct and preserve affordable housing by ensuring that all internally- and externally-facing policies, programs and procedures are created and executed with an intersectional equity lens that focuses on wellness both for employees and the public we serve. The Office also serves an important compliance role, ensuring that anti-discrimination laws are enforced. The Office is transitioning to focus even more on equity and inclusion, paying close attention to race, gender, and disability as intersectional lenses to help uncover barriers to accessing resources and opportunities.

The Office works both internally and externally to ensure that the agency is as responsive as possible to the diverse public we serve through building partnerships with neighborhoods, communities and organizations. The Office also acts as a one-stop resource with regard to equity and as a liaison for HPD to equity initiatives throughout the city. Finally, the Office is committed to educating HPD’s workforce about equity and inclusion strategies and equal employment opportunity policies, as well as state and local anti-discrimination laws, in order to better equip our staff to work together and with the public in an unbiased and professional manner.

Your Impact:

As the Senior Advisor for Disability Services and Policy, you will ensure that—regardless of their ability—all 2,300-agency staff are able to perform their job duties and all 8.5 million New Yorkers have access to housing services.

Your Role:
You will work with agency stakeholders and partners towards identifying and reducing job- and program-related barriers to staff and clients with disabilities.
This will include developing agency policies and procedures to ensure full programmatic and communication accessibility for persons with disabilities; providing accessible notices to members of the public advising them of their rights under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the New York State Human Rights Law, the New York City Human Rights Law, and associated regulations related to persons with disabilities, as well as the agency’s ADA grievance procedure; and serving as the primary contact within HPD for persons with disabilities requesting auxiliary services.
Additional responsibilities will include:

• Responding to inquiries from members of the public concerning accessibility; assisting in the investigation of any complaint alleging noncompliance with the ADA and/or other applicable federal, state, and local laws relating to people with disabilities, or alleging any actions that would be prohibited by such laws; documenting and maintaining records of complaints made pursuant to the ADA and other applicable federal, state, and local laws relating to people with disabilities, and forwarding such complaints to the Mayor’s Office for People with Disabilities (MOPD).
• Process reasonable accommodation for the public and employees.
• Serve as the 55-A Coordinator
• Ensuring that HPD’s programs, services and activities meet the requirements under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, which mandates non-discrimination and accessibility in federally-funded housing programs for persons with disabilities.
• Working with MOPD to develop training for HPD staff around disability etiquette.
• Assessing the accessibility of programs, trainings, documents, etc.
• Acting as the agency’s expert on best practices around disability, engaging regularly in policy discussions to ensure equitable outcomes.
• Serving as a liaison between HPD, MOPD and disability advocacy groups.

Required skills:

This position requires demonstrable knowledge of rights under the ADA, the Fair Housing Act, the New York State Human Rights Law, the New York City Human Rights Law, HUD regulations including Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, Universal Federal Accessibility Standards guidelines, and state regulations governing accessibility to commercial buildings. The position also requires understanding of best practices around reasonable accommodations when working with the public and New York City employees.

1. A baccalaureate degree from an accredited college and two years of experience in community work or community centered activities in an area related to the duties described above; or
2. High school graduation or equivalent and six years of experience in community work or community centered activities in an area related to the duties as described above; or
3. Education and/or experience which is equivalent to "1" or "2" above. However, all candidates must have at least one year of experience as described in "1" above.

• Experience in accessibility testing and remediation
• A passion for applying an intersectional equity lens to policies and procedures.
• An eagerness to work on a close-knit team.
• A keen sense of how engage effectively in tough conversations.
• Great relationship-building skills and an ability to build bridges when there are silos.
• Ability to independently take on projects and join policy discussions with guidance as needed.
• Expertise on the principles of behavior change and adult-learning strategies, including how to differentiate training for mixed-skill audiences.
• Experience working with the public on behalf of an agency or organization
• A demonstrated capacity for performing multiple tasks, ability to work collaboratively inside and outside of the agency, and using independent judgment.
• A solutions-centered mindset in low-resource settings.

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.

In addition, the Department of Housing Preservation & Development offers competitive salaries and the following benefits: Generous Pension Plans (The New York Employees' Retirement System);
401(k) and Roth 457(k) Retirement Savings Programs; U.S. Savings Bonds Flexible Spending Program; Health Benefits, Dental, Vision Coverage, Prescription Drug Program; Training and Professional Development; Opportunity for Scholarship; ‘College Savings Program; Paid Holidays and Generous Annual Leave.

HPD's vision is to promote strength and diversity in our workforce and an inclusive and equitable work environment.

Apply online

100 Gold Street

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.