Fair Housing Specialist (Case Manager)

About Fair Housing Napa Valley

The Greater Napa Valley Fair Housing Center (Fair Housing Napa Valley) is a non-profit, civil rights agency that serves all residents of Napa County and the City of Vallejo. FHNV has promoted fair and equal housing opportunities through counseling and investigating complaints of housing discrimination for over 20 years. In addition to fair housing investigation and enforcement, FHNV also offers comprehensive Tenant/ Landlord counseling and dispute resolution services to tenants, landlords and managers of rental properties. FHNV is the only agency in Napa County where residents can obtain impartial comprehensive fair housing counseling, information, referral, and mediation services. All programs and publications are available in both Spanish and English. For more information about FHNV, please visit our website at www.napafairhousing.org or check out our Facebook page.

Position Summary

The Fair Housing Specialist is a case management position that provides housing counseling, conducts investigations of allegations of housing discrimination, and educates the general public regarding their fair housing and tenant-landlord rights and responsibilities, to ensure equal access to safe and livable housing. This is a full-time (40 hours) in-person position (remote work is possible occasionally), and ongoing training is provided. This is a challenging and rewarding position that offers an opportunity to make a difference in people’s lives and effect change on a daily basis, improving quality of life for residents in Napa County and the City of Vallejo.

Essential Duties:

• Conduct fair housing intake and investigations, including case intake and processing of complaints, interviewing witnesses, collecting and analyzing documents, compiling case records and investigative reports, researching public records, researching and analyzing legal issues, and referring cases to government agencies or attorneys for enforcement action;
• Maintain case management system on all cases and calls;
• Access, read, and interpret basic landlord-tenant and fair housing legal documents;
• Impartially provide information and referral for a variety of housing-related issues;
• Educate the community and general public regarding fair housing issues;
• Contribute to program development and work collaboratively with other agency personnel and other nonprofit agencies;
• Conduct general office work as needed, including answering phones, data recording and compilation, activity report writing, and attending meetings.
• Assist in other projects as assigned to further the interests and mission of the agency.

Candidate Qualifications

• Candidate must have a demonstrated desire to work on behalf of civil rights protections, and diverse individuals and groups without regard to race, religion, sex, color, national origin, sexual orientation, familial status, or disability;
• Associate Degree in a relevant field, or at least 2 years relevant experience in housing, civil rights, law, social services or similar field required;
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills; Fluency in a language other than English- especially Spanish and Tagalog- is highly desirable but not required;
• Must be computer proficient. Knowledge of Microsoft Office and Excel and experience with related databases are strongly preferred;
• Experience working with diverse communities;
• Team-oriented and able to work with diverse range of co-workers and community partners to meet client/ case objectives;
• Capacity to work and think independently, proactively and without close supervision;
• Strong analytical thinking and organizational skills and an ability to pay close attention to detail and maintain accurate records;
• Highly motivated, and capable of working in an occasionally busy environment;
• Ability to handle an active caseload and manage multiple tasks;
• Creative problem-solving skills and a strong desire to assist others.