Senior Land Use Planner

About the Agency:

The New York City Department of Housing Preservation Development (HPD) promotes quality and affordability in the city's housing, and diversity and strength in the city’s neighborhoods because every New Yorker deserves a safe, affordable place to live in a neighborhood they love.

- We maintain building and resident safety and health

- We create opportunities for New Yorkers through housing affordability

- We engage New Yorkers to build and sustain neighborhood strength and diversity.

HPD is entrusted with fulfilling these objectives through the goals and strategies of “Housing Our Neighbors: A Blueprint for Housing and Homelessness,” Mayor Adams’ comprehensive housing framework. To support this important work, the administration has committed $5 billion in new capital funding, bringing the 10-year planned investment in housing to $22 billion the largest in the city’s history. This investment, coupled with a commitment to reduce administrative and regulatory barriers, is a multi-pronged strategy to tackle New York City’s complex housing crisis, by addressing homelessness and housing instability, promoting economic stability and mobility, increasing homeownership opportunities, improving health and safety, and increasing opportunities for equitable growth.

Your Team:


The Office of Neighborhood Strategies (ONS) is charged with ensuring that HPD’s development and preservation efforts are guided by meaningful community engagement and coordinated with public investments in infrastructure and services, as put forth in the Mayor’s Housing Plan.

ONS is composed of two divisions and a cross-divisional unit reporting to the Associate Commissioner:

- The Division of Planning and Predevelopment (P&P) is central to developing and managing HPD's housing production pipeline from project proposal phases through the land use review and entitlement process, to ensure that HPD's investments contribute to building strong, healthy, resilient neighborhoods in all five boroughs. The advertised position is a member of this division.

- The Division of Neighborhood Development & Stabilization (ND&S) leads the agency's commitment to neighborhood planning and strategic preservation through engagement with tenants, landlords, community leaders, and neighborhood stakeholders as we work to enable strong and healthy neighborhoods anchored by affordable housing.

- The Strategic Initiatives Unit (SIU) leads special ONS initiatives and provides essential technical, planning, and policy support to staff and the Associate Commissioner of Neighborhood Strategies.


Your Impact:

Reporting to the Director of Land Use and Policy, the Senior Planner will combine skills in zoning, land use, research, and affordable housing to help advance the development of affordable housing in neighborhoods throughout the five boroughs. This role is critical to advancing priority initiatives to create new affordable housing across New York City, including the City Housing Activation Taskforce (Executive Order 43), the Living Libraries campaign to co-locate libraries and housing, and the 24 in 24’ initiative to develop affordable housing on City-owned land. This role has the opportunity to shape and inform both individual affordable housing projects and agency and citywide policy on affordable housing development, land use, and zoning.

Your Role:

The Senior Land Use Planner is responsible for helping manage HPD’s inventory of vacant, City-owned property. In this role, the Senior Land Use Planner will use City databases, archival research, and zoning analysis techniques to perform due diligence on City-owned sites. The Senior Land Use Planner will also conduct preliminary reviews of complex Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP) applications and provide technical expertise on zoning and land use actions. For interested candidates, there may also be opportunities to engage in other activities for the Division of Planning and Predevelopment, such as assisting with facilitating community workshops and other activities related to the planning and development of affordable housing on publicly owned land.

Your Responsibilities:

The Senior Land Use Planner will lead site due diligence analyses, review of ULURP applications, research and zoning analyses, and mapping. Specifically, you will be expected to work independently, manage several tasks simultaneously, exercise judgment, and apply expertise for the following:

- Conduct complex due diligence research on HPD vacant land and buildings, using the Automated City Register Information System (ACRIS), the Zoning Application Portal (ZAP), and other sources to identify previous approvals and prevent unforeseen project delays

- Conduct thorough reviews of approval documents, including ULURP applications, to verify information and to ensure consistency in approach across all projects prior to review and sign off by the Director of Land Use and Policy and the Executive Director of Land Use and Resiliency Policy

- Provide zoning and site analyses of HPD’s inventory of vacant land and zoning guidance as needed

- Prepare memos and presentations on specific affordable housing projects, as well as land use and zoning policy that impact publicly owned land

- Respond to inquiries from the public and owners of conveyed urban renewal sites and other previously City-owned sites

- Track and update HPD’s inventory of vacant land and buildings to assess development opportunities

- Track the status of Urban Renewal Plans and lead coordination with other divisions to ensure information is updated

- Assist with license agreements to facilitate technical due diligence analysis by designated development teams

- Assist with special research projects as needed


Preferred Skills:

- Knowledge of New York City government, Zoning Resolution, and entitlements processes; affordable housing development; and land use and urban planning issues.

- Ability to understand, analyze, apply, and communicate qualitative, quantitative, and geospatial information in a variety of formats with attention to detail.

- Ability to effectively project manage and balance competing priorities, including developing and implementing work plans, tracking documents, and reporting across multiple projects.

- Ability to problem-solve both independently and as part of a group, take initiative, and identify and elevate issues as needed.

- Technical planning experience and proficiency with Microsoft Office, Adobe Creative Suite, and ArcGIS.

- Strong writing, researching, editing, and interpersonal communication skills. Ability to produce high-quality materials in a variety of formats for internal and external audiences.

- Excited to be part of a team, to work with others to solve problems creatively, and get quality work done. Ability to hear, take, and give feedback effectively and productively and to collaborate with peers to get the job done.

- Two to four years of professional experience in a related field; candidates with master’s degrees in urban planning, real estate development, public administration, public policy, or a related field are strongly preferred.


Please submit a resume and cover letter with your application. Applications without cover letters will not be considered.

COMMUNITY COORDINATOR - 56058

1. A baccalaureate degree from an accredited college and two years of experience in community work or community centered activities in an area related to the duties described above; or
2. High school graduation or equivalent and six years of experience in community work or community centered activities in an area related to the duties as described above; or
3. Education and/or experience which is equivalent to "1" or "2" above. However, all candidates must have at least one year of experience as described in "1" above.

The City of New York is an inclusive equal opportunity employer committed to recruiting and retaining a diverse workforce and providing a work environment that is free from discrimination and harassment based upon any legally protected status or protected characteristic, including but not limited to an individual's sex, race, color, ethnicity, national origin, age, religion, disability, sexual orientation, veteran status, gender identity, or pregnancy.