Housing Compliance Officer

Statement of Duties

The Housing Compliance Officer engages in an array of activities and projects that aid the City of Somerville in developing and implementing federal housing programs such as CDBG and HOME, and other programs to meet community needs. General responsibilities include providing assistance and support in the administration of Somerville’s affordable housing programs. Specific duties include monitoring Housing Division projects to ensure compliance with loan restrictions including owner-occupancy requirements, affordable rental restrictions, affordable resale restrictions, housing quality standards, income eligibility requirements, and other assignments.

Among other assignments, the Housing Compliance Officer is responsible for recording new mortgages, mortgage discharges, and restrictive covenants at the Registry of Deeds; maintaining loan files, project monitoring files, and project compliance tracking spreadsheets; and coordinating loan payoffs and discharges of completed mortgages and restrictions.

Essential Functions:

The essential functions or duties listed below are intended only as illustrations of the various type of work that may be performed. The omission of specific statements of duties does not exclude them from the position if the work is similar, related, or a logical assignment to the position.

Monitor Housing Division projects to ensure compliance

• Work with property owners/management companies to ensure projects are in compliance with occupancy, rent, and income restrictions for Inclusionary Housing and other affordable housing programs, including CDBG and HOME among others;
• Work with property owners/management companies to initiate and coordinate timely resolutions as situations of non-compliance are identified.
• Determines and certifies income eligibility of tenants and applicants for housing programs;
• Performs property inspections as needed for compliance with housing quality, as well as health and safety standards;
• Educates and orients new owners and tenants of City-funded properties on compliance and monitoring obligations regarding rental and homeownership restrictions and other requirements;
• Stays current on best practices and industry standards regarding compliance and monitoring of affordable housing programs, including and CDBG and HOME-funded projects;
• Reviews applications for completeness to ensure all necessary documentation is provided for housing programs and answers applicant inquiries for the Division’s affordable housing programs;

Loan Management

• Maintains and updates Division’s mortgage and project monitoring spreadsheets as needed;
• Records and researches documents at Middlesex South County Registry of Deeds and researches properties on the Registry’s website;
• Coordinates loan payoffs and mortgage discharges;
• Reviews requests for consents to refinance and/or subordinate mortgages on properties in which the Division has a direct financial interest and/or an interest in preserving affordability;
• Calculates affordable housing resale prices on approvals to refinance restricted homeownership properties;
• Prepares and reviews reports on program activities, as needed.

Other Duties

• Provides information and support to staff of Housing Division programs as needed;
• Provides customer service and referrals as needed;
• Assists with updating program information and manuals as may be occasionally needed;
• Attends night meetings as may be occasionally needed;
• Other duties as assigned

Recommended Minimum Qualifications:

Education and Experience:
Bachelor’s Degree preferred and three to five (3-5) years’ experience; or any equivalent combination of education, training, and experience which provides the required knowledge, skills, and abilities to perform the essential functions of the job.

Knowledge, Abilities and Skill

Knowledge: Knowledge of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Community Development Block Grant and HOME Investment Partnerships Program, and the Community Preservation Act is preferred. Knowledge of and/or experience with other programs geared toward maintaining and expanding affordable housing opportunities. Knowledge and facility with Microsoft Office (Excel, Word, Outlook) and knowledge of Microsoft Access, and PowerPoint.

Ability: The position requires the ability to communicate effectively orally and in writing with other City departments, state and federal agencies, architects, contractors, developers, owners, supervisors, employees, and the general public. Demonstrates the ability to work as a team member and maintain project timelines; continuous effort to improve operations, decrease turnaround times, streamline work processes, and work cooperatively and jointly to provide high-quality customer service to the public at-large. Bilingual ability in Spanish, Portuguese, and/or Haitian-Creole is preferred but not required.

Skill: This position requires strong skills in oral and written communication; excellent customer service skills; skill working with computers and software, and strong organizational skills.

Work Environment:

The work environment involves everyday discomforts typical of offices, with occasional exposure to outside elements. Noise or physical surroundings may be distracting, but conditions are generally not unpleasant. Employees may be required to work beyond normal business hours in response to attending evening meetings or completing work assignments.

Physical and Mental Requirements

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the position’s essential functions.

Physical Skills

Few physical demands are required to perform the work. Work effort principally involves sitting to perform work tasks, with intermittent periods of stooping, walking, and standing. May also be some occasional lifting of objects such as office equipment and computer paper (up to 30 lbs.)

Motor Skills

Duties are largely mental rather than physical, but the job may occasionally require minimal motor skills for activities such as moving objects, operating a telephone, personal computer, and/or most other office equipment including word processing, filing, and sorting of papers.

Visual Skills

Visual demands require constantly reading documents for general understanding and analytical purposes.

Hours: Full-Time, City Hall Hours.
Salary: $65,000 annualized, plus benefits.
Union : Non-Union
FLSA: Non-Exempt
Date Posted: March 18th, 2026

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The City of Somerville is an affirmative action/equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, sex, religion, age, national origin, disability or any other protected category. Women, minorities, veterans, and persons with disabilities are encouraged to apply.

Auxiliary aids and services, written materials in alternative formats, and reasonable modifications in policies and procedures will be provided to qualified individuals with disabilities free of charge, upon request. Persons with disabilities who need auxiliary aids and services for effective communication (i.e., CART, ASL), written materials in alternative formats, or reasonable modifications in policies and procedures in order to access the programs, activities, and meetings of the City of Somerville should please contact the ADA Coordinator at 617-625-6600 x 2059 or [email protected].

Pre-Employment Requirements for All Employees:

• MA Criminal Offender Record Information (CORI) clearance
• Completion of Conflict-of-Interest Law Education training for municipal employees

Overview of Total Rewards:

• 4 weeks annual vacation for non-union positions. Union positions vary by contract. Please note, police officers are members of the SPEA union. Public Health Nurses are part of Union A (SMEA).
• Medical insurance through the Group Insurance Commission (GIC) - 80% of premium costs paid by City
• Dental coverage low and high plans through Cigna
• Vision care through Vision Service Plan (VSP)
• Long term disability through Sun Life
• Group and voluntary life insurance through Boston Mutual
• Health Care and Dependent Care flexible spending through Benefit Strategies
• Deferred compensation plans through a choice of three vendors
• Free, confidential services through the Employee Assistance Program (EAP) provided by E4Health
• Annual cancer screening & wellness release
• Tuition reimbursement
• MBTA pass program
• FREE Blue Bikes membership
• Eligible employer for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program (PSLF)

Benefits listed are for benefits-eligible positions and the above information is meant to be a general overview of the benefit programs offered by the City of Somerville and not a binding contract.