Statement of Duties

The Inclusionary Housing Specialist is responsible for assisting in the work of the City’s Inclusionary Housing program and other tasks as needed to support the work of the City’s Office of Strategic Planning and Community Development (OSPCD) Housing division.

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.

Support the Inclusionary Housing Program through activities such as meeting with developers; responding to inquiries from both developers and applicants; coordinating with other City departments as needed; and collaborating with Somerville agencies to support lease-up efforts. Other activities related specifically to Inclusionary housing or to other affordable housing programs include:

• Reviewing applications for completeness, to ensure all necessary documentation is provided for Inclusionary and/or other housing programs;
• Tracking inclusionary projects and overall program metrics (such as applicant diversity, number and type of units, etc.);
• Creating and executing marketing plans by coordinating with city partners to ensure households who are eligible for the program have equitable access;
• Assisting with the maintenance of the Consolidated Rental Waitlist for the Inclusionary Housing Program;
• Running Information Sessions and other related marketing activities including maintaining the Inclusionary Housing Listserv and preparing mailings and alerts; Responsible for ensuring appropriate lottery preparation;
• Determining and certifying income eligibility of applicants;
• Taking the lead in responding to inquiries received in the Inclusionary email inbox and directly to personal city email address;
• Calculating affordable housing sale prices and writing memos detailing factors for calculation;
• Calculating maximum affordable rents;
• Preparing an annual Inclusionary Housing Program report and reviewing and preparing other reports on program activities, as needed;
• Performing research and assisting in development of related Inclusionary recommendations procedures and policies as needed;
• Identifying the need for and making referrals to internal partners as well as other City departments;
• Maintaining project, buyer and tenant files, transferring data to electronic files where only paper files exist;
• Counseling first-time homebuyers and prospective renters who are applying for the Inclusionary Housing program;
• Coordinating lease ups with tenants and property owners;
• Completing property inspections for the Inclusionary Housing Program to verify unit readiness, comparable unit features to market rate, access to shared amenities, and compliance with the affordable housing plan;
• Assisting with updating Inclusionary housing and other information and manuals on an ongoing basis, including on the Housing Division’s website;
• Analyzing new housing projects, preparing proposals and negotiating inclusionary units;
• Delivering high quality Accurate, Courteous, and Easy (ACE) customer service;
• Timely completion of work to meet applicable deadlines;
• Assist with transitioning newly completed projects to the Housing Compliance staff;
• Maintaining the Warren Group data and publishing on the Inclusionary Housing Program webpage annually;
• Publishing necessary comparable data for inclusionary rents and sales prices as prescribed by the Somerville Zoning Ordinance;
• At the IHP Manager’s direction assist in preparing information as necessary for the Mayor’s Office and or City Council;
• Work involves occasional attendance at night meetings and tabling at weekend events as needed.

Recommended Minimum Qualifications:

Education and Experience: Bachelor’s Degree and five (5) years’ experience in affordable housing assistance or related field; 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.

Special Requirements: Job duties may include attending some evening or weekend meetings and/or community events. Work requires some agility such as moving in or about construction sites or over rough terrain. Knowledge of affordable housing programs is strongly preferred.

Knowledge, Abilities and Skill:

Knowledge: Some knowledge of and experience with strategies and programs geared toward maintaining and expanding affordable housing opportunities; strong knowledge of Excel and Microsoft Office suite. Knowledge of affordable housing programs or other housing related knowledge preferred but not required.

Abilities: Ability to communicate effectively verbally and in writing with other City departments, state and federal agencies, architects, contractors, developers, owners, supervisors, employees, and the general public; ability to exercise good judgment and focus on detail; ability to work as a team member and maintain project timelines; continuous effort to improve operations, decrease turnaround times, streamline work processes, and work cooperatively and jointly to provide quality seamless customer service to the public at-large.

Skills: This position requires excellent organizational skills with careful attention to detail; strong skills in oral and written communication; and excellent customer service skills. Bi-lingual or multilingual ability in Spanish, Portuguese, Haitian-Creole, Nepali, Mandarin and/or Cantonese is desirable.

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

Minimal 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. There may also be some occasional lifting of objects such as office equipment or photocopy paper (up to 30lbs.).

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, City Hall Hours.
Salary: $75,000 annualized, plus benefits.
Union: Non-Union
FLSA: Non-Exempt 
Date Posted: March 18th, 2026 

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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 the ADA Coordinator at 617-625-6600 x 2059 or ADA@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. Public Health Nurses are part of Union A (SMEA).
• 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.