Client Services Specialist for the Division of Tenant & Owner Resources

About HPD:

The New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) is the nation’s largest municipal housing preservation and development agency. Its mission is to promote 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.
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. HPD is committed to reducing administrative and regulatory barriers and make investments 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.

________________________________________

Your Team:

The Office of Housing Access and Stability (“HAS”) consists of the divisions of Housing Opportunity, Tenant and Owner Resources, Housing Stability, Budget and Program Operations, and Program Policy and Innovation. The mission of the office is to ensure fair, efficient, and transparent access to affordable housing. The Office 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. Housing Access is committed to expanding housing choices, affirmatively furthering fair housing, and stabilizing the financial health of buildings.

At HPD, rent subsidy programs are administered by the Division of Tenant & Owner Resources (DTOR). HPD’s rental subsidies, including Section 8 or the Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) program, provide funding to eligible low-income families for rental assistance toward decent, safe, and affordable housing in a neighborhood of their choice. Families pay approximately 30% of their income toward rent, and the NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) pays the difference, directly to the owner. The unit must have a rent that is determined reasonable and affordable by HPD and must meet federal Housing Quality Standards (HQS) to be approved.

Your Impact:

HPD's Division of Tenant & Owner Resources (DTOR) is responsible for the administration of rental subsidy programs that include Housing Choice Voucher (HCV), Project Based Voucher (PBV), Moderate Rehab Section 8, Moderate Rehab Single Room Occupancy (SRO), and Continuum of Care (CoC)-Shelter Plus Care (SPC) and NYC 15/15. Through these programs, HPD serves over 40,000 households and 9,000 landlords in all five boroughs. DTOR is responsible for the initial application screening; confirming eligibility requirements; briefing applicants; and issuing vouchers. DTOR also monitors tenant and landlord compliance of their obligations under each program and continues to administer the ongoing subsidies throughout their participation. These continued activities include processing annual and interim recertifications to update family income/assets, household composition, and rent amounts; tenant moves and transfers; approved rent increases; Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) abatements and reinstatements to enforce Housing Quality Standard (HQS) inspection results; and providing customer service to stakeholders through our Client Services office, call center and the DTR Portal.

Your Role:

Client Services Specialists in the Division of Tenant Resources are expected to perform customer service based functions to provide necessary and important services to assist HPD clients. They provide customer service via telephone using our call center system, on line via several email accounts and in person by appointments to the public and different stakeholders. Client Services Specialists are also expected to participate in tenant activity programs in projects to coordinate funtions to improve tenant-management relations and to improve and encourage participation related to Section 8 dealings. Client Services Specialists will perform duties and responsibilities to ensure participant cases are accurtely screened and reviewed for completeness and in compliance with Federal HUD Rules and Regulations.

Key Responsibilities:
- Take client calls and provide accurate, satisfactory answers to their inquiries and concerns
- Review clients account in order to provide them with updates regarding their subsidy program as requested
- Prepare and send appropriate correspondence as well as track responses
- Assist with reviewing email accounts and virtual mail room in order to route documents to corresponding units
- May perform community outreach to assist Section 8 participation
- May perform administrative work in relation to records, files, invoices and reports including data entry and logging
- Document case files and electronic records, file preparation
- Attend mandatory trainings

Preferred skills
- Excellent Communication Skills (both orally and in writing)
- Call center experience a plus
- Great active listening skills
- Comfortable working in a fast-paced environment
- Strong time management and organizational skills
- Excellent troubleshooting skills

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.