Reports To

Board of Directors

COMPENSATION

$275,000 to $300,000 and competitive benefits

MISSION

HousingPlus’ mission is to provide community-based housing and comprehensive services to women and gender-diverse people, including those with children, to support them in overcoming poverty, homelessness, addiction, trauma, and the effects of incarceration in order to build lives of stability and define and realize goals for themselves and their families.

THE OPPORTUNITY

Are you a servant-leader who believes in the housing-first model of community-based, unconditional, permanent housing paired with supportive services?

Are you committed to the tenets of self-determination and empowering community members to drive the transformation of their futures?

Will you model and promote a culture that values excellence, equity, mutual respect, diversity, and collaboration?

Are you excited about and committed to serving as HousingPlus’ champion and spokesperson, promoting the organization and its work to funders and other partners?

Can you raise money, foster partnerships, and lead with a sense of urgency to take a highly successful organization to the next level with a spirit of confidence and optimism and build upon existing strengths to support significant growth?

If so, we invite you to keep reading and think about the untapped opportunities for you to make a lasting difference in the lives of New Yorkers.

SEARCH SUMMARY

HousingPlus (housingplusnyc.org) seeks a CEO to lead this highly effective, well-respected leader in the housing-first approach. The new CEO will lead an organization with a strong record of achievement in its 22-year history. To build upon HousingPlus’ legacy, the CEO will possess strategic vision, entrepreneurial acumen, and the ability to manage and guide a complex organization in the competitive and evolving housing marketplace, advocating for a diverse and underserved population that would otherwise be unhoused.

The CEO will be a dynamic, caring, inspirational, and collaborative leader fully valuing and embracing the power of that community while exercising the business savvy to get things done in a growing entity offering a myriad of services. The CEO will recognize the strengths and contributions of a committed staff and dedicated board, fostering and implementing best practices in both management and governance.

OVERVIEW

Since its founding in 2002, HousingPlus has provided community-based housing and comprehensive services to women, gender-diverse people, and their families. Its model is based on the “housing first” approach through which the organization connects women and families to housing without preconditions and barriers to entry. They support tenants through a host of services including trauma and family counseling and on-site employment and education services.

One of HousingPlus’ priorities in the years ahead is to increase its efforts to place participants in permanent housing. As part of this work, four years ago HousingPlus opened 30 additional units for formerly homeless families and justice-involved participants with children at Linwood Park Apartments in East New York – the organization’s first-ever collaboration with private developers with funding from the Empire State Supportive Housing Initiative. HousingPlus is poised to double its permanent housing portfolio in the coming years, adding four new buildings between now and 2028, thereby reaching even more women, gender-diverse people, and families in need.

This $13 million organization has approximately 60 full- and part-time staff providing permanent and transitional supportive housing to 547 persons in 296 households, across all programs, including 240 children in households, 158 of whom are between the ages of 4 and 18. Administrative offices currently are located in Manhattan and Brooklyn, and the administrative offices operate on a hybrid model.

BASIC FUNCTION

INTERNAL MANAGEMENT

• Leadership – Lead with an inspirational and strategic vision that fully embraces the mission while keeping a finger on the pulse of day-to-day operations, services, and programs.
• Prioritization and Commitment to Outcomes – Ensure that the activities of HousingPlus, both human and financial, fulfill the mission and execute the organizational strategy with a commitment to excellence across all activities and a passion for delivering measurable outcomes that positively impact lives.
• Programs – Know how HousingPlus’ programs are structured, staffed, and funded; know how impact and performance are measured, how money is being spent, and what it costs to ensure and deliver high-quality services efficiently; ensure the integration of and collaboration between the different divisions and programs.
• General Management, Administration, and Finance – Understand the elements of HousingPlus’ funding and finances; establish budget and planning strategies and set priorities; evaluate programs with an eye toward balancing fiscal realities with the organizational mission; hold self and the organization to the highest levels of transparency, integrity, and accountability.
• Staff – Attract, build, lead, and manage a highly dedicated team with a common vision, sense of purpose, and shared objectives; ensure that collaboration, communication, and accountability are the norm; measure the efficacy of service delivery with a clear sense of the standards and norms.

EXTERNAL REPRESENTATIVE

• Resource Development – Grow and broaden a sound and diversified funding base from individual donors, foundations, corporations, and government; work closely with the Board of Directors to inspire continued and greater participation with fundraising efforts to identify, plan, and execute new and innovative ways to raise money to enable growth; explore the development of revenue-generating vehicles.
• Public Role – Serve as a highly visible spokesperson and advocate for HousingPlus; engage and coalesce stakeholders around the mission and provide leadership in an effort to raise the organization’s profile and to attract resources; strategically position HousingPlus as a leader and a model for effectiveness and life-changing impact; seize opportunities to serve as an advocate for legislative reform and the promotion of a community-based model.
• Relationship Building – Engage stakeholders around HousingPlus’ activities; build upon existing partnerships and seek new strategic alliances to promote HousingPlus’ mission and work.

RELATIONSHIP WITH BOARD OF DIRECTORS

• Board Relations – Establish a strong working partnership with the Board of Directors made up of 18 to 25 individuals including HousingPlus participants and others from a wide range of professions in both the nonprofit and private sectors; forge relationships that will bring forth their best ideas and efforts in support of HousingPlus; help attract new Board members.
• Growth – Build upon HousingPlus’ history of success and its solid foundation as the gold standard for community services; develop a vision for excellence and growth.

IDEAL EXPERIENCE AND QUALITIES

The CEO shall be and/or will demonstrate:

• A passion for HousingPlus’ mission and a commitment to community and the individuals whom HousingPlus serves; a record as a strong, caring leader and catalyst able to articulate a vision and inspire and engage the Board of Directors, staff, donors, and stakeholders.
• An exemplary reputation for successful and visionary leadership and management at a senior level with an entrepreneurial, multifaceted organization.
• Proven managerial skills as a leader in a nonprofit community-based organization, government, or the private sector, provided the individual has significant service as a volunteer or nonprofit board member.
• Proven experience as a dynamic fundraiser and marketer with the ability to secure financial support from diverse sources in a climate of increasing constraints; an understanding of government grants and contracts; awareness of current and ongoing changes in the political landscape and the impact of change on HousingPlus’ funding.
• Familiarity with New York City and New York State government policies and trends as well as a grounding in city and state legislative and funding matters.
• A true understanding of and appreciation for the power of community as an advocate for and provider of essential services.
• Able to promote consistent and enduring high-quality programs and services throughout the organization.
• A clear ability to identify and capitalize on public relations opportunities as they arise.
• The leadership capability to model and ensure a culture of performance excellence, high-quality engagement, equity, and cultural competency.
• An individual with a collaborative and inclusive management style who can act decisively when necessary; a manager with the ability to attract and nurture high-performing talent and to build strong teams.
• An ability to respect, listen to, and work well with internal and external constituencies from a range of culturally diverse communities.
• A history of communicating effectively in writing and orally, including excellent public speaking skills for formal and extemporaneous presentations; able to represent HousingPlus to a broad public.

PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS

The successful candidate should be:

• A deeply committed advocate for social justice with evidenced effective leadership in addressing issues of racial, social, and economic inequities, particularly in housing.
• An effective relationship builder internally and externally who is approachable and has a high degree of compassion and emotional intelligence; one who leads with empathy and humility and is a true “people person.”
• A catalyst and doer who is able to conceptualize and express ideas and anticipate and act on events which may create opportunities for HousingPlus.
• A seasoned professional who is organized, strategic, financially aware, and politically astute; able to develop and maintain on all fronts a sense of team spirit and common purpose.
• A strong, decisive leader who is able to build consensus and work collaboratively to maximize the contributions of staff and Board.

APPLICATIONS

HousingPlus is committed to an inclusive, diverse, equitable, and accessible work environment, and further recognizes that diversity in its workforce fosters excellence in its mission of advocating for the New York City community. HousingPlus ensures that no applicant for employment or employee of the organization is denied equal opportunity because of race, color, religion, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, pregnancy, status as a parent, national origin, age, disability (physical or mental), family medical history or genetic information, political affiliation, military service, or other non-merit-based factors. These protections extend to all management practices including recruitment and hiring, appraisal systems, promotions, training, and career development programs.

Please send applications, including cover letters and resumes, and nominations to G. Angela Henry, Principal, at HousingPlus@PhillipsOppenheim.com.