Assistant Director for Real Estate Disposition and Community Engagement

Overview:

The mission of the Mayor's Office of Housing (MOH) is to make Boston a more equitable and inclusive city where all residents can thrive. MOH administers programs that create and preserve affordable housing, support homeowners and renters, provide housing and services to homeless individuals and families, and develop city-owned property. The Mayor's Office of Housing (MOH) seeks to carry out its mission through a lens of promoting diversity, equity and inclusion and addressing the effects of systemic racism in our city.

Under the supervision of the Chief of Housing or designee, the Assistant Director for Real Estate Disposition and Community Engagement is responsible for managing efforts to redevelop city owned vacant and underutilized properties into community supported end uses. This role will also play a leadership role in developing and maintaining relationships with key community members and institutions in neighborhoods where the City has vacant city owned parcels. They will develop and codify best practices for MOH staff doing project based community engagement.

The Assistant Director for Real Estate Disposition and Community Engagement will work with MOH staff across multiple divisions to bring underutilized properties into productive use as housing, permanent open space or other approved uses. The role’s recommendations and decision-making will be informed by reporting and metrics, enabled by the standardization and organization of existing processes.

Responsibilities:

• Oversee the disposition of city owned parcels into community supported end uses.
• Establish and oversee systems to track the project management tasks and responsibilities of staff members involved in real estate disposition across different Mayor’s Office of Housing divisions.
• Oversee management systems that maintain an accurate up to date reporting of all MOH/City owned land portfolio and the status of disposition projects across the portfolio.
• Develop and establish community relations in all neighborhoods in Boston that work to support the efforts of housing creation, green space and land disposition.
• Collaborate with community stakeholders to evaluate potential development options against existing zoning, neighborhood context, policy objectives and economic development priorities.
• Develop and codify, and train staff on Mayor’s Office of Housing best practices for land disposition and project based community engagement.
• Coordinates with other city departments on land disposition projects intended to advance the City’s priorities.
• Facilitates communication and resolves issues and problems with other agencies, service providers, developers, lenders, and neighborhood representatives as it relates to development on City owned land and housing development.
• Oversees the Request for Proposal processes, analyzes the financial submissions of developers competing to develop property and provides recommendations on the relative strengths, weaknesses and overall feasibility of proposed projects.
• Supervise staff as needed.
• Performs related work as required.

Minimum Entrance Qualifications:

• 4 years real estate development and/or project based community engagement experience. Appropriate educational substitutions can be made.
• Bachelor's degree in Urban Planning, Real Estate, Public Administration or related field or equivalent.
• Preference for candidates with understanding of Massachusetts General Law Chapter 30B governing the disposition of public real estate.
• Demonstrated community engagement experience and exceptional community engagement skills and the ability to build relationships and consensus across stakeholder groups.
• Demonstrated experience building relationships and engaging community members in multi-ethnic neighborhoods.
• Bilingualism or multilingualism is preferred with a preference for speakers of Spanish, Haitian Creole or Cape Verdean Creole.
• Experience with public speaking including presentations at public forums or on panels.
• Excellent oral and written communication and organizational skills.
• Proficiency with Microsoft applications, and Google Suite
• Ability to exercise good judgment and focus on detail as required by the job.

Boston Residency Required.

Terms:

Union/Salary Plan/Grade:  NDEA Non-Union/NU26

Hours per week:   35