Co-op Preservation Project Associate (Bilingual Preferred)

The Urban Homesteading Assistance Board (UHAB) is seeking a Co-op Preservation Project Associate. 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 model 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 is a dedicated team that works to support existing low-income housing cooperatives (HDFCs) and city-owned buildings converting to cooperatives, through technical, organizational, and financial planning assistance, including loan packaging and work-outs for distressed housing co-ops. The Preservation department’s work comprises our free technical assistance to over 1,300 HDFCs and nearly 80 city-owned buildings undergoing co-op conversion across the city, our work providing contractual monitoring to over 200 HDFCs, and our Co-op Improvement Program, which works with building residents of distressed co-ops to create individualized remediation work-out plans.

Responsibilities

The Project Associate works with the Director of Co-op Preservation and the Director of Contracts to assess the overall needs of each co-op and develop a strategy to assist, stabilize and improve each one. The PA will:

• Provide as-needed technical assistance and referrals to a portfolio of HDFC co-ops and/or city-owned buildings converting to 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 virtual and in-person meetings (often in the evening) 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.