Lead Tenant Rights Counselor

Company: Dolores Street Community Services
Location: San Francisco
Posted on: October 28, 2024

Job Description:

Job Announcement
Tenant Rights Counselor

Position: Lead Tenant Rights Counselor
Reports to: MSROC Program Manager
Compensation: $52,000-56,160 Full-Time, commensurate with experience. Benefits include medical, dental, vision, long-term disability, life insurance, flexible spending account, commuter benefits, paid holiday, paid sick leave, generous vacation with Summer Recess and Winter Recess, and 401(K) with employer matching.
About the Organization:
Mission Action has been growing rapidly, therefore, we have created a lot of new positions in different programs. Please consider joining our team to serve the communities. Founded in 1982, Mission Action, formerly known as Dolores Street Community Services (DSCS), is a multi-issue, multi-strategy nonprofit organization, with almost 150 employees and an annual budget of $14.5 million, based in San Francisco's Mission District. Our mission is to nurture individual wellness and cultivate collective power among low-income and immigrant communities to create a more just society. We provide direct services to meet immediate needs, as well as affect broader change by engaging in advocacy and community organizing, working on a wide range of issues-from homelessness, to housing, to immigration, to employment. We believe deeply that these issues are interconnected, and that they must be addressed in solidarity to create a more just society.

Position Objective:
The Mission SRO Collaborative (MSROC), a partnership with Lyon Martin Health Services/ Women's Community Clinic, the Mission Neighborhood Resource Center, and the San Francisco Anti-Displacement Coalition (SFADC), organizes with SRO (Single Room Occupancy) hotel tenants throughout the Mission to protect SRO housing stock, improve living conditions, and fight for housing justice.

Mission Action seeks a Full-Time Tenant Rights Counselor to provide counseling to low-income tenants across the city with issues involving their tenant rights and housing justice. This counselor will carry a caseload of tenants, prepare formal documents to assist tenants in ongoing conversations with property owners/landlords, perform informative workshops, conduct outreach on an as-needed basis, and other duties, as assigned. This position will work as part of the MSROC team and represent the agency in some citywide collaboratives and coalitions.

Responsibilities:

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• Plan and perform intake on and provide housing counseling to low-income tenants (including monolingual Spanish-speaking) by assessing housing problems, answering questions, and providing relevant information.
  
• Monitor and keep track of program deliverables.
  
• Provide warm referrals to other programs for financial assistance, counseling, or other supportive services based on the tenants'/clients' individual needs.
  
• Advocate for families and individuals by coordinating with outside agencies in regard to code enforcement and general eviction prevention support in an effort to help tenants achieve housing stability.
  
• Coordinate and facilitate educational Know-Your-Rights workshops, leadership development programs, and peer-to-peer outreach and preventive measures.
  
• Participate in advocacy and organizing campaigns related to housing justice, including organizing tenants to choose winnable goals, and strategize to win concrete outcomes.
  
• Represent MSROC in housing rights coalitions and coordinate collaborative work with other participating organizations and coalitions that work on related issues.
  
• Ensure information regarding a client's housing situation is updated in the database in a timely manner, and all supporting documents are filed in accordance with Mission Action's policies and procedures.
  
• Plan and ensure tenant participation at weekly and monthly meetings, legal clinics, community events, mobilizations, or other activities by conducting outreach and timely follow-up.
  
• Conduct tenant outreach and provide educational materials to individuals and families on an as-needed basis.
  
• Work with other Mission Action staff to coordinate MSROC tenant input and support on other community-related issues such as land use, civic engagement, immigrant rights, and economic justice.
  
• Generate reports according to the program funding requirement.
  
• Attend weekly/monthly meetings with supervisors to report on outreach, problem-solve, and plan upcoming activities.
  
  
  Other Organizational Duties:
  
  • 
    
  • Conduct business in accordance with the Mission Action Employee Handbook, exercising sound judgment and serving the best interests of the agency and the community.
    
  • Work within the framework of the agency's mission, vision, values, theory of change, and organization's commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion, restorative justice, trauma-informed work, and language access.
    
  • Commit yourself to treating each community member with respect and dignity.
    
  • Perform other duties as assigned.
    
    Desired Skills:
    
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    • Background in and passion for working with low-income and immigrant communities around issues of affordable housing, land use, and/or immigrant & worker rights; familiarity with these issues in the Mission District and San Francisco is highly desired.
      
    • Ability to inspire others with respect to the agency's mission, vision, & values, commitment to equity and social justice, and intersectional work.
      
    • Ability to develop a thorough understanding of housing and tenant rights.
      
    • Ability to interact with a wide range of clients with cultural humility, kindness, and respect.
      
    • Ability to assume responsibility quickly and work independently and as part of a team.
      
    • Ability to use good judgment, multitask and meet deadlines.
      
    • Ability to read, understand, and apply language from manuals, policies, technical procedures, and other relevant documents.
      
    • Ideal candidates will have experience working and building trust with low-income immigrant families/individuals, including at least two years' experience as an organizer, tenant rights advocate, and/or related roles.
      
    • Ability to speak, read, and write in Spanish is a plus.
      
    • Willingness to work some evenings and weekends to design a flexible schedule.
      
      
      Mission Action is an equal-opportunity employer which values lived experience and seeks applicants of the greatest diversity possible. We encourage people of color, women, older people, members of the LGBTQ community, and individuals with disabilities, including HIV and community members who grew up in the Mission District. Pursuant to the SF Fair Chance Ordinance, we will consider for employment, qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.
      
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Keywords: Dolores Street Community Services, Manteca , Lead Tenant Rights Counselor, Other , San Francisco, California