Policy Analyst, Dept. of Housing Preservation & Dev. - New York, NY

Job Description

The New York City Department of Housing Preservation and
Development (HPD) is the largest municipal developer of affordable housing
in the nation, responsible for carrying out Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s
ambitious New Housing Marketplace Plan to fund 165,000 units by the end of
the 2014 fiscal year. Since mid-2003 HPD, along with our sister agency the
New York City Housing Development Corporation and in partnership with many
advocates, developers, tenants, community organizations, elected officials,
and banks and other financial institutions, has financed the creation or
preservation of more than 135,000 affordable units of housing. HPD also
actively promotes the preservation of affordable housing through loan
programs, enforcement of the Housing Maintenance Code, and the
administration of the nation’s fourth largest Section 8 rent subsidy
program. For more information, visit www.nyc.gov/hpd.

The Division of Strategic Planning (DSP), housed in the Office of Strategic
Planning, Technology and Administration, is responsible for the planning
and implementation of the agency’s priority projects. DSP functions as the
internal management consulting team for the agency, working with
Commissioner Wambua and his senior management team to identify agency
priorities and implement change initiatives, often working across
divisional lines or in partnership with external city agencies and
non-profit partners. Projects vary in scope and type but tend to focus on
policy and program development as well as improving operational efficiency
and effectiveness.

Job Description

HPD is seeking a bright, dynamic candidate for an Analyst position on the
DSP team. The Analyst will be responsible for a variety of projects in
DSP’s portfolio. He or she will be expected to work both independently and
collaboratively with managers and other teams across the agency to
identify, clarify, and resolve complex issues critical to HPD’s strategic
and operating success. Activities include: managing a structured approach
to problem solving, drafting and managing work plans, data collection (e.g.
through expert interviews, research, and focus groups), qualitative and
quantitative data analysis and interpretation, and formulation and
presentation of relevant findings and recommendations.

Recent analyst projects include:
•Designing policies, processes, and procedures for the agency’s new
Proactive Preservation Initiative, a cross-divisional effort to arrest
decline in the city’s housing stock and employ a combination of incentives
and enforcement tools to ensure building owners maintain safe housing.
•Interviewing over 50 stakeholders and developing a strategic plan for the
Center for New York City Neighborhoods, a non-profit entity created by HPD
and the City Council to address the small homes foreclosure crisis in New
York City.
•Developing a policy, strategy and performance measurement system for
eliminating a backlog of over 1,700 applications for the 421-a tax credit,
administered by HPD
•Collaborating with the Public Policy Lab and the Parsons School of Design
on a year-long fellowship project focused on enhancing HPD’s delivery of
services to New Yorkers, including via physical and virtual points of
service, information distribution, and in-person interactions with members
of the public.


The ideal candidate will be enterprising and resourceful as well as
organized and results-oriented. He or she will apply his or her management
consulting skills in an energetic, proactive, collaborative, and strategic
way.  The candidate should feel comfortable working in a relatively small
group within a large organization, setting direction while working flexibly
within existing constraints and periodically ambiguous situations.

While he or she will ideally demonstrate an interest in public policy,
housing, and/or city government, these areas of strength may be secondary
to the candidate’s interest in applying strategic thinking and project
management skills to the agency’s mission and operations.

The candidate will be expected to work directly with stakeholders at all
levels of the agency. As such, teamwork and consensus building are
essential components of the analyst’s work. Though he or she will work
closely with DSP’s Assistant Commissioner, Director and project managers,
he or she should be able to operate independently, carry out assignments in
a timely fashion, and demonstrate sound judgment in decision-making.

•2 years professional experience working in management consulting or a
similar environment;
•Ability to work creatively and analytically under strict deadlines in a
problem-solving environment
•High integrity and credibility as perceived by all those with whom s/he
will work
•Ability to apply diagnostic and planning tools to agency operations,
documenting current business processes, preparing summary findings and
leading gap analyses between current processes and best practices
•Ability to assist in formulating the specific solutions to address
prioritized gaps
•Working knowledge of how to organize and manipulate data
•Strong written and oral communications and presentation skills
•Experience with Microsoft Excel, PowerPoint, and Visio

Minimum Qual Requirements 1. A master's degree from an accredited college
in economics, finance, accounting, business or public administration, human
resources management, management science, operations research,
organizational behavior, industrial psychology, statistics, personnel
administration, labor relations, psychology, sociology, human resources
development, political science, urban studies or a closely related field,
and two years of satisfactory full-time professional experience in one or a
combination of the following: working with the budget of a large public or
private concern in budget administration, accounting, economic or financial
administration, or fiscal or economic research; in management or methods
analysis, operations research, organizational research or program
evaluation; in personnel or public administration, recruitment, position
classification, personnel relations, employee benefits, staff development,
employment program planning/administration, labor market research, economic
planning, social services program planning/evaluation, or fiscal
management; or in a related area. 18 months of this experience must have
been in an executive, managerial, administrative or supervisory capacity.
Supervision must have included supervising staff performing professional
work in the areas described above; or
2. A baccalaureate degree from an accredited college and four years of
professional experience in the areas described in "1" above, including the
18 months of executive, managerial, administrative or supervisory
experience, as described in "1" above.