Housing Coordinator (Trust)

Statement of Duties 

The Housing Programs Coordinator engages in an array of activities and projects that aid the City of Somerville in developing and implementing housing programs to meet community needs. Employee is required to perform all similar or related duties. 

Essential Functions: 

The essential functions or duties listed below are intended only as illustrations of the various type of work that may be performed. The omission of specific statements of duties does not exclude them from the position if the work is similar, related, or a logical assignment to the position. 

Staff to Somerville Affordable Housing Trust Fund (SAHTF) 

• Performs all duties related to staffing the Somerville Affordable Housing Trust Fund (aka ‘the Trust’), including but not limited to preparing monthly meeting agendas, drafting meeting minutes, preparing annual budget forecasts and monthly financial reports, and drafting annual reports; 
• Presents Trust business both verbally and in writing to Trustees and others at monthly Trust meetings, including recommendations on matters before the Trust; 
• Conducts Request for Proposal process for Trust funding opportunities, including drafting and issuing RFP documents, reviewing proposals, managing communication, and drafting contracts; 
• Prepares requisitions and reviews all invoices to ensure proper documentation for submission and payment through the City’s Munis System in support of all housing activities and programs as necessary, while tracking contract spend-down in coordination with other staff; 
• As part of the Trust grant administration, visits grantee sites and conducts file review and monitoring on at least an annual basis for all grantees; 
• Coordinates with staff to the Community Preservation Committee (CPC) on reports required throughout the year, public hearings, and presentations to the CPC; 
• Responsible for tracking all finances of the Trust, both CPA and Trust funds for all Trust funded activities and knowing amount of funding that is available to commit at any given time; 
• Drafting Trust commitment letters and tracking commitments by the Trust for all Trust funding and also ensuring we have a fully executed commitment letter for all funded projects; 
• Responsible for tracking commercial development linkage payments; involves both payments made to date, pending payments, preparing and sending invoices and processing payments for check deposit; 
• Provides administrative support to Closing Cost and Down Payment Assistance Programs and tracks Closing Cost Program 110% AMI expenditures funded through the Trust, as needed; 
• Researches, tracks and interprets state and federal requirements and best practices applicable to Somerville programs, makes corresponding local policy recommendations and establishes procedures for implementation and monitoring. 

Compliance 

• Drafts and updates Memorandum of Understanding agreements between the Housing Division and owners of developments with Inclusionary affordable units for compliance with City policies on program procedures, occupancy, rent, and income restrictions; as part of this work, attends weekly Inclusionary team meetings; 
• Assists in maintaining the Division’s project monitoring spreadsheets and databases as needed; 
• Assists in identifying situations of non-compliance; 
• Reviews applications for completeness to ensure all necessary documentation is provided for housing programs as well as answering any applicant inquiries for affordable housing programs. 

Continuum of Care (CoC) 

• Handles all responsibilities related to the City’s role within the network of local homeless programs, and participates as a member of the Balance of State Continuum of Care including attending meetings of Balance of State and other homeless provider networks. Also includes planning, leading and running a local homeless provider meetings on a regular basis and acting as a liaison for the City between the Balance of State and local homeless providers; 
• Helps plan, execute and participate in Annual Point-in-Time unsheltered homeless count; 
• Handles the administration of the current and final Continuum of Care Planning Grant, including overseeing consultant work, reviewing invoices from the consultants, attending regular meetings with the consultants and handling all grant close out and the final APR and coordinating with the OSPCD Administration and Finance Division on their drawdowns; 
• Prepares and reviews reports on program activities, as needed;  
• Provides customer service to constituents including referral resources and information on homelessness support programs and services, tenant/landlord laws, housing programs and Trust; 
• Assists with updating information and manuals and other written guidance on the Housing Division’s website on an ongoing basis; 
• Determines and certifies income eligibility of property owners, tenants and applicants for housing programs, especially in support of the Inclusionary Program, and Compliance, among other staff; 
• Responds to requests from the City Council and City departments for information. 

Minimum Qualifications 

Education and Experience: Bachelor’s Degree in planning, business, or related field and three to five (3-5) years’ experience; or any equivalent combination of education, training and experience which provides the required knowledge, skills and abilities to perform the essential functions of the job. 

Demonstrated experience in real estate feasibility analysis, specifically the preparation and review of proforma calculations, is highly preferred. 

Knowledge, Abilities and Skill 

Knowledge: Knowledge of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Community Development Block Grant, HOME Investment Partnerships Program, the Continuum of Care, Municipal Trusts and the Community Preservation Act is preferred. Knowledge of public administration, experience with strategies and programs geared toward maintaining and expanding affordable housing opportunities; proficient in Microsoft Office, specifically Word and Excel; working knowledge of Access, PowerPoint, Photoshop, Illustrator, Smartsheets, and remote meeting platforms such as Zoom; knowledge of Munis (municipal ERP financial software) preferred. 

Ability: Ability to communicate clearly and effectively, both verbally and in writing, with other City departments, state and federal agencies, architects, contractors, developers, owners, supervisors, employees, and the general public.  Ability to meet and deal with the public appropriately; ability to handle problems and emergencies effectively; ability to multi-task and recognize and adjust to shifting work priorities as needed; ability to operate a computer; ability to maintain confidential information; ability to maintain, manage, and organize records; ability to deal appropriately with City employees, city officials and the general public. 

Skill: This position requires strong skills in oral and written communication; excellent customer service skills; excellent analytical skills and associated spreadsheet software skills in Excel. Bi-lingual or multilingual ability in Spanish, Portuguese, Haitian-Creole and/or Nepali is preferred but not required. 

Work Environment 

The work environment involves everyday discomforts typical of offices, with occasional exposure to outside elements.  Noise or physical surroundings may be distracting, but conditions are generally not unpleasant.  Employee may be required to work beyond normal business hours in response to attend evening meetings or complete work assignments. 

Physical and Mental Requirements  

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the position’s essential functions. 

Physical Skills 

Few physical demands are required to perform the work. Work effort principally involves sitting to perform work tasks, with intermittent periods of stooping, walking, and standing.  May also be some occasional lifting of objects such as office equipment and computer paper (up to 30 lbs.) 

Motor Skills 

Duties are largely mental rather than physical, but the job may occasionally require minimal motor skills for activities such as moving objects, operating a telephone, personal computer and/or most other office equipment including word processing, filing and sorting of papers.  

Visual Skills 

Visual demands require constantly reading documents for general understanding and analytical purposes. 

Hours: Full-Time
Salary: $71,765.25 annualized; plus benefits
Union: Non-Union
FLSA: Exempt
Date Posted: March 31, 2025

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The City of Somerville is an affirmative action/equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, sex, religion, age, national origin, disability or any other protected category. Women, minorities, veterans, and persons with disabilities are encouraged to apply.

Auxiliary aids and services, written materials in alternative formats, and reasonable modifications in policies and procedures will be provided to qualified individuals with disabilities free of charge, upon request. Persons with disabilities who need auxiliary aids and services for effective communication (i.e., CART, ASL), written materials in alternative formats, or reasonable modifications in policies and procedures in order to access the programs, activities, and meetings of the City of Somerville should please contact Adrienne Pomeroy at 617-625-6600 x 2059 or apomeroy@somervillema.gov.

Pre-Employment Requirements for All Employees:

• MA Criminal Offender Record Information (CORI) clearance
• Completion of Conflict-of-Interest Law Education training for municipal employees

Overview of Total Rewards:

• 4 weeks annual vacation for non-union positions. Union positions vary by contract. Please note, police officers are members of the SPEA union.
• Medical insurance through the Group Insurance Commission (GIC) - 80% of premium costs paid by City
• Dental coverage low and high plans through Cigna
• Vision care through Vision Service Plan (VSP)
• Long term disability through Sun Life
• Group and voluntary life insurance through Boston Mutual
• Health Care and Dependent Care flexible spending through Benefit Strategies
• Deferred compensation plans through a choice of three vendors
• Free, confidential services through the Employee Assistance Program (EAP) provided by E4Health
• Annual cancer screening & wellness release
• Somerville Retirement Pension System
• Tuition reimbursement
• MBTA pass program
• FREE Blue Bikes membership
• Eligible employer for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program (PSLF)

Benefits listed are for benefits-eligible positions and the above information is meant to be a general overview of the benefit programs offered by the City of Somerville and not a binding contract.