Job Description

CLOSING DATE: JULY 12, 2024.

The Rent Stabilization Program is a new program in the Department of Housing and Community Affairs, that was created to administer and enforce Montgomery County, Maryland's new rent stabilization law. The County's rent stabilization law limits annual rent increases for subject residential rental properties, sets the base rental amount for certain rental units, provides exemptions from rental stabilization restrictions for certain units, permits rental increases to fund capital improvements or to achieve fair returns, and restricts rent increases for properties that are designated as Troubled or At-Risk due to certain housing code violations. The Rent Stabilization Program has operational oversight for the full scope of activities associated with the enforcement and administration of the rent stabilization law and regulations as well as management of stakeholder interactions .

The Department of Housing and Community Affairs seeks four Program Specialist II positions, reporting to the Rent Stabilization Manager to coordinate and implement a wide range of housing program management support related to reporting requirements, reviewing, analyzing, and processing applications, petitions, and service inquiries. This is a newly established position in the rent stabilization program and is integral in collecting and organizing information to effectively evaluate and determine compliance, submit reports, and update rent stabilization databases, client portal and department website .

The Program Specialist II reviews and analyzes financial documents, contracts, leases, and other documents to ensure compliance and to determine appropriate action in accordance with the federal, state, and local laws and regulations. In addition to reviewing the petitions, the Program Specialist will also be responsible for arranging meetings with tenants and landlord to mediate and conciliate differences, as well as responding to questions from the public.

Duties include, but are not limited to:

• Process the approvals and denials for exemptions, fair returns and capital improvement petitions;
• Review and analyze banked landlord rent calculations;
• Thoroughly review and analyze financial documents such as regulations, leases, contracts and other documents as required;
• Develop resolution strategies for complex petition related issues;
• Collect, evaluate, and prepare rent stabilization reports related to exemptions and other components of the law;
• Ensure compliance with federal, state, or local requirements;
• Provide information such as rent stabilization guidelines and procedures to the general public or to landlords;
• Prepare data and metrics to assess and track program compliance and performance;
• Participate in defining business requirements for the rent stabilization databases, portals, and website.

Other information:

The selected candidate must be well-organized and detailed oriented.

The candidate must have excellent oral and written communication skills.

The candidate must have experience working with financial documents and complex regulations and laws that govern the operation of the program.

The candidate must adhere to deadlines, work independently, and make recommendations in a timely manner.

The candidate must be able to work with parties, understanding the sensitivity issues while providing respectful engagement and equitable handling of clients across racial, ethnic, age, gender, and socioeconomic classes.

Additional Employment Information

OHR reviews the minimum qualifications of all applicants, irrespective of whether the candidate has previously been found to have met the minimum requirements for the job or been temporarily promoted to the same position. This evaluation is based solely on the information contained in the application/resume submitted for this specific position/IRC.

Montgomery County Government is an equal opportunity employer, committed to workforce diversity. Accordingly, as it relates to employment opportunities, the County will provide reasonable accommodations to applicants with disabilities, in accordance with the law. Applicants requiring a reasonable accommodation for any part of the application and hiring process should contact the Office of Human Resources via email to OHR@montgomerycountymd.gov . Individual determinations on requests for reasonable accommodation will be made in accordance with all applicable laws.

Montgomery County Government also provides hiring preference to certain categories of veterans and veterans/persons with a disability. For more information and to claim employment preference, please refer to the Careers webpage on Hiring Preference .

All applicants will respond to a series of questions related to their education, relevant experience, knowledge, skills and abilities required to minimally perform the job. The applicant's responses in conjunction with their resume and all other information provided in the employment application process will be evaluated to determine the minimum qualifications and preferred criteria status. Based on the results, the highest qualified applicants will be placed on an Eligible List and may be considered for an interview. Employees meeting minimum qualifications who are the same grade will be placed on Eligible List as a "Lateral Transfer" candidate and may be considered for interview.

If selected for consideration for this position, you may be required to provide evidence that you possess the knowledge, skills, and abilities indicated on your resume.

Montgomery County Ethics Law: Except as provided by law or regulation, the County's "Public Employees" (which does not include employees of the Sheriff's office) are subject to the County's ethics law including the requirements to obtain advanced approval of any outside employment and the prohibitions on certain outside employment. The outside employment requirements of the ethics law can be found at 19A-12 of the County Code . Additional information about outside employment can be obtained from the Ethics Commission website.

Minimum Qualifications

Experience: Three (3) years of professional work experience is required in housing, urban planning and development, finance, or other related fields.

Education: Graduation from an accredited college or university with a Bachelor's Degree.

Equivalency: An equivalent combination of education and experience may be substituted.

Preferred Criteria

No Preferred Criteria. All applicants will be reviewed by OHR for minimum qualifications. Applicants who meet minimum qualifications will be rated "Qualified," placed on the Eligible List, and may be considered for interview.

Qualified applicants will be selected for an interview with demonstrated experience in the duties and information indicated in the job announcement .

Minimum Salary 65551

Maximum Salary 104210

Currency USD