Job description:
The Metropolitan Council on Housing has been at the forefront of the housing movement for the past half century. We are working to solve New York’s housing crisis; an increasing number of people are becoming homeless due to soaring rents, neighborhoods are being displaced by a wave of gentrification, and our affordable housing stock is evaporating. The shrinking affordable housing opportunities for New Yorkers stem from policies serving the interests of the city’s powerful real estate lobby. New York has an incredibly rich history of low- and moderate- income tenants organizing for affordable housing programs of unprecedented success and scale. Our education and organizing efforts are designed to build on this success. We combat displacement at the individual level while bringing tenants together in citywide campaigns to fight for structural changes to solve the affordable housing crisis for current and future generations.
Bi-Lingual Tenant Organizer (English/ Spanish):
Met Council is seeking a full time Tenant Organizer who will be responsible for coordinating organizational base building, leadership development, and advocacy campaigns for safe, stable, and affordable housing for all New Yorkers. This position will be supervised by the executive director.
Responsibilities:
- Organize Tenant Associations to win repairs & services, stop evictions and harassment, and correct fraudulent rents.
- Organize tenants in Inwood and Washington Heights around the proposed Inwood rezoning and the Mayor’s Mandatory Inclusionary Housing Plan. Carry out trainings, rallies and actions to win community demands.
- Build a base of members city-wide through our hotline and clinic; Coordinate our monthly city-wide membership meetings and trainings.
- Mobilize and engage members in city-wide coalitions including the Rent Justice Coalition (Fighting for a Rent Freeze at the Rent Guidelines Board), Real Affordability for All (RAFA), Real Rent Reform, and Stand for Tenant Safety
- Recruit members and leaders through relational meetings
- Develop and Train tenant leaders to be effective in outreach, facilitation, public speaking, and political strategy.
- Create flyers, training content, and written materials for organizing
- Conduct policy research
- Recruit members to work on our Tenant Help Hotline, write for our Monthly Newspaper Tenant/Inquilino, and assist with social media.
- Write media advisories and press releases for Met Council rallies and actions, outreach to the media, involve members in the process.
Qualifications:
- Must be bi-Lingual – in English & Spanish – with ability to read, write and speak fluently in both languages.
- Prior experience in organizing and leadership development
- Ability to work independently, yet take direction according to goals of the organization and project
- Excellent interpersonal skills and comfort talking to complete strangers
- Excellent written and oral communication and attention to detail
- Comfortable setting goals, making plans, and reporting on results vs. goals, as well as using data and metrics to measure results and learn.
- Understanding that every task in organizing is an opportunity for tenants to learn leadership, and that the organizer should be doing as little of it on your own as possible.
Preferred:
- Knowledge of Upper Manhattan
- Prior work in or familiarity with Housing/Tenant Rights, State and City Politics, and Land Use/ Economic Development
- Commitment to social, economic and racial justice, as well as grassroots decision-making
How to apply:
Please email your Resume and Cover Letter to Ava Farkas:
