Director of Fair Housing

Communities Resist (“CoRe”) seeks a Director of Fair Housing to join a team combating gentrification, displacement, social disenfranchisement, and structural injustice through affirmative litigation before housing, state, and federal courts as well as administrative agencies. CoRe is a legal services organization for housing and community justice that serves Brooklyn and Queens. We have spent years working together with neighborhood organizations and organizers in representing hundreds of tenants and tenant associations toward enforcing their right to social citizenship by struggling, resisting, and enduring against any attempts to deny working communities, largely of color, their agency.

The Director of Fair Housing is the person primarily responsible for the development, expansion and supervision of fair housing work under relevant federal, state and city statutes and regulations, with a focus on CoRe’s priority neighborhoods.

Director of Fair Housing responsibilities include:

• Directly supervising and/or serving as a resource for staff attorneys litigating fair housing claims before federal, state and city courts and administrative agencies.
• Directly supervising a team of staff attorneys in group tenant association representation, including in HP proceedings, 7A proceedings, eviction defense, and matters in state or federal court relating to repairs, rent regulation, and fair housing.
• Assigning new tenant association matters to staff attorneys and assisting with managing the caseloads of direct supervisees.
• Conducting training of new and continuing staff attorneys as necessary.
• Building and maintaining a personal caseload of complex or impact-oriented fair housing matters for litigation before federal, state and city courts and administrative agencies.
• Working with existing community partners (CBOs, elected officials, coalitions) to improve community education on fair housing issues and intake/development of fair housing matters.
• Developing new community partnerships as necessary to expand CoRe’s fair housing work.
• Programming and leading community education events on fair housing issues.
• Producing written resources (internal and external) on fair housing issues.
• Working with the Executive Director and other managers to investigate and submit applications for additional funding sources in support of CoRe’s fair housing work.
• Director of Fair Housing is a managerial position, and will participate in management meetings and assist in other managerial or administrative responsibilities as appropriate.
• Ensuring that direct supervisees conduct their representation competently and ethically, and in compliance with CoRe’s recordkeeping and reporting policies.

Applicants must have the following qualifications:

• Admission to the bar of the State of New York or eligible for admission.
• A minimum of five years of experience litigating housing cases in state, federal and local courts, or other substantially similar experience.
• Cultural competence demonstrated through present or past residence in, or employment at organizations serving, our clients’ communities.
• Demonstrated ability to effectively communicate with individuals from diverse backgrounds and local organizations.
• Excellent legal writing, litigation and advocacy skills.
• Excellent interpersonal skills.
• Ability to work independently with strong motivation, to supervise a caseload, track case data, and to meet deadlines.
• Computer proficiency sufficient to independently review and generate materials relevant to the position as well as track client information in our database, prepare reports for grantors, attend meetings, and perform tasks related to the work such as timekeeping and case notes.
• Willingness, desire, and ability to attend evening meetings and events.