Hearing Representative - Division of Adjudications

Hearing Representative – Division of Adjudications The Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) oversees housing standards across all 3.7 million homes in New York City. As the nation's largest municipal housing agency, HPD is responsible for building and preserving affordable housing, protecting tenants from harassment and displacement, and holding landlords accountable across the five boroughs. Under Commissioner Dina Levy and the Mamdani Administration, HPD is pursuing an ambitious housing agenda focused on the needs of New York's tenants. With a broad set of tools including standards enforcement, tenant resources, and the creation of new affordable housing, HPD is committed to making New York City a more affordable place for renters and homeowners alike. The Community Coordinator, in the capacity of serving as Hearing Representative, will be a key member of the Division of Adjudications (Division), within the newly centralized Office of Compliance & Risk Management (CRM). The Division consists of the Appeals and the Mitchell-Lama Hearings Units. 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. The Division of Tenant and Owner Resources (DTOR), within HAS, is responsible for the administration of rental subsidy programs that serves 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 (CoC)/Shelter Plus Care (SPC), NYC 15/15, Housing Access Voucher Program (HAVP), City HAP and HOME Tenant-Based Rental Assistance (HOME TBRA). The largest program administered is the federal Section 8 or HCV program, which provides 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 Section 8 rent subsidy program funded and monitored by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is the primary rental subsidy program administered by HPD.The Appeals Unit conducts federally mandated informal hearings and reviews, which are the mechanisms through which Section 8 and other HPD administrated rental subsidy program participants and applicants may appeal decisions made by HAS in relation to their participation or application for assistance in the respective rental subsidy program. The Mitchell-Lama Hearings Unit tries and settles cases arising from matters lodged by managing agents of housing complexes governed by Mitchell-Lama rules and regulations and helps ensure that building owners and managing agents uphold their obligations under the program. The Division of Housing Supervision, within HPD's Office of Asset & Property Management (APM), oversees the Mitchell-Lama program, which includes approximately 45,000 units that provide affordable rental and cooperative homeownership opportunities to families with moderate and middle incomes. As a Hearing Representative for the Division, you will bolster effective workflow and communications for the Appeals Unit, prepare documents and exhibits to be presented at informal hearings and informal reviews concerning terminations and denials of assistance, requests for reasonable accommodations, and other petitions arising from the various rent subsidy programs administered by HPD. As a Hearing Representative, you will be part of a talented team of other hearing representatives, attorneys and administrative support staff who provide critical legal services to the Agency as it executes the agency's affordable housing responsibilities. Your responsibilities will include representing HPD at informal hearings/reviews held at HPD's Appeals unit. You will handle appeals from receipt to completion, including working with appellants and the various agency units, appellants and representatives to request and review all relevant documents. You will review casefiles and determine potential procedural and mailing issues, proper standing and timeliness of cases. You will independently review case files for relevant evidence pertaining to HPD's actions and create a timeline of events to clearly demonstrate the facts and events leading to HPD's decision, assessing the decision and its compliance with rules, policies and HPD's Administrative Plan. You will ensure timely preparation of cases for hearing/review and present exhibits and argue in support of the agency's decision or action at the informal hearings/reviews and explain those steps and documents in a clear fashion at informal hearings/reviews. You will work with Unit staff to ensure cases are calendared, scheduled and entered correctly in the Appeal Tracking Database. You will work with staff to ensure correct and timely mailing of correspondence and decisions. You will respond to inquiries from participants/applicants and their representatives, agency staff and the general public via phone and written correspondence. You will review, enter and/or update information related to the appeallants' cases in the Appeals Tracking Database and other programs and databases such as Elite, Outlook and Expertly. You will present cases to the Appeals Unit as needed for internal discussions and to HAS for review and discussion. You will send pre-resolve or reinstatement e-mails to senior staff within HAS for cases that may be able to be resolved without a hearing or review. You will respond to inquiries that are received via mail, fax, or e-mail from staff within HAS as well as external parties such as attorneys, POA, case workers, etc. You will serve as a liaison between the Program, the Appeals Unit and other relevant internal or external parties on hearing logistics and relevant issues. You will independently manage own caseload and assignment of cases to other team members as needed. You will assist with training and mock hearings/second seating of current and incoming Appeals staff if needed or due to staff shortages. You will make recommendations to supervisors and leadership on ways to improve Appeals unit functions and case management. You will work on special projects, as needed, which may working on initiatives that result from Agency or Division priorities and strategic plans. The ideal candidate has a proven interest in affordable housing and will be an inquisitive problem-solver who is eager to grow into new responsibilities, can understand multiple affordable housing domains, and quickly gain a broad understanding of relevant HPD Divisions, with the following skills: Strong communication and interpersonal skills; ability to convey data analysis or other complex concepts to colleagues with a variety of skillsets, strengths, and perspectives. Ability to multi-task with high volume workload. Data enthusiast with a passion for using data to improve government processes and services. Collaborative team player with the ability to also drive things forward independently. Exceptional project management, organizational, analytical, quantitative and qualitative skills. Strong attention to detail.