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Position Description

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Self-Help Enterprises is seeking an experienced Housing Development Director to oversee a diverse development portfolio. This executive leadership role includes leadership and oversight of a multi-million-dollar operating budget and a team that directs projects that create and improve housing opportunities for thousands of families each year.

About Self-Help Enterprises

Self-Help Enterprises (SHE) is a nationally recognized community development organization whose mission is to work together with low-income families to build and sustain healthy homes and communities. An original pioneer and ongoing leading provider of mutual self-help housing in the United States, SHE incorporates multiple lines of business—multifamily and single-family housing development, housing counseling, single-family rehabilitation, climate resilience, and infrastructure development—to build better homes and communities for farmworkers and other hard-working families.

Incorporated in 1965, Self-Help Enterprises is recognized for its excellence and has become one of the nation’s leading nonprofit affordable housing developers, helping more than 68,000 families through homeownership, affordable rental housing, housing rehabilitation, and community development throughout California’s San Joaquin Valley. SHE’s President/CEO Tom Collishaw was inducted into Affordable Housing Finance Magazine’s Hall of Fame. SHE is a NeighborWorks organization and has been rated as one of the top 50 affordable housing developers by Affordable Housing Finance Magazine in three of the past six years.

Self-Help Enterprises provides housing and related services to eight counties of California’s San Joaquin Valley and one mountain county, a region roughly the size of the state of West Virginia.

SHE is a complex operation, encompassing six affiliated corporations and thirty-one limited partnerships. Other noteworthy markers include

• 60 years serving California communities
• 6,700 families helped build homes
• 3,200 affordable rental units developed
• 6,900 homes rehabilitated
• 215 employees
• $105M annual revenue
• $22M land fund
• Over 40 active development projects

Statement of Values

• Commitment to dealing responsibly and ethically with participants, communities, funding agencies, and each other.
• Participants will be treated with dignity and respect and will have the opportunity to develop skills that enable them to better provide for themselves and their communities.
• Our relationship will be one of working with, rather than working for, the individuals and families who participate in our program. The involvement of communities in our local activities will be encouraged through open and honest communication.
• Commitment to comply with and honor the commitments we make with funding agencies. We will endeavor to contain costs while providing quality services. It is equally our responsibility to represent to funding agencies the needs of low-income people. While working cooperatively with agencies to improve the delivery of services, we will work to understand and respect the rationale of the regulatory process.
• Respect for personal and professional needs of employees and the encouragement of staff relationships that are based on fairness and cooperation.
• Fair and adequate compensation.
• Opportunities for training and professional development
• Safe work environment.

Real Estate Development Department

SHE’s Real Estate Development Department is responsible for SHE’s real estate development operations. The Department’s core functions include:

• New construction of affordable rental housing;
• Acquisition/rehabilitation of affordable rental housing;
• Re-syndication and rental housing rehabilitation;
• Construction of resilience centers and other infrastructure in partnership with small community-based organizations in targeted communities; and
• Mobile home park acquisition, development, and stabilization.

The Real Estate Development Department is SHE’s primary financial driver, consistently generating over 60% of the organization’s revenue. Our developments serve a wide variety of populations, including members of tribal communities, seniors, farm workers, and residents of permanent supportive housing.

SHE’s layers a variety of local, state and federal funding sources, including the New Markets Tax Credits, Capital Magnet Funds, and California Energy Commission EPIC energy innovation funds, among more traditional sources.

Housing Development

In 1979, SHE decided to expand our housing work beyond mutual housing to meet a more expansive set of housing needs in the San Joaquin Valley and began developing rental housing. While the largest share of SHE’s existing rental housing portfolio consists of family projects with a sizable portion of farmworker units, new projects in the past five years have targeted special needs residents – notably permanent supportive housing units for formerly unsheltered people.

Recent SHE housing development highlights include:

• Reaching the milestone of over 3,000 units owned and operated by Self-Help Enterprises;
• Managing 423 units in construction with another 929 in predevelopment as shovel-ready developments;
• Leadership roles with the National Rural Housing Coalition, Housing California, California Housing Consortium, and the California Coalition for Rural Housing;
• Maintaining an expansive and innovative approach to housing including: managing operations of the Bakersfield Community Land Trust; leveraging New Market tax Credits; development of tribal and senior housing developments; and constructing the first mobile home park in California in the last decade.

About The Position

Reporting to Betsy McGovern-Garcia, Vice President, the Housing Development Director (Director) is responsible for all aspects of SHE’s housing development and finance (e.g., site acquisition, development entitlements, financial feasibility planning and implementation, securing capital).

(*) Depending on qualifications, the position may be hired at the Assistant Director level ($112,524-$150,792 annually)

Responsibilities

• Oversee a $4M departmental operating budget and a $30M predevelopment land fund.
• Provide leadership and direction to a multifaceted team of 14, including two assistant directors, who are responsible for all aspects of housing development and housing rehabilitation, including, but not limited to, project feasibility analysis, market research, financing, operating budgets, environmental review, due diligence, risk assessment, land-use approvals and negotiations, community outreach, and entitlement processes.
• Serve as an active participant on the Executive Leadership Team, which develops, guides, and advances the organization’s goals and mission.
• In partnership with the CEO and CFO, play an executive leadership role in discussions related to new project selection and organizational-level capital financing strategies and cash flow projections.
• Coordinate with the Vice President to manage and direct capital investments and resource allocation priorities; and monitor the overall cash flow needs of the Real Estate Department in tandem with the organization's cash needs.
• Compile and present new multifamily project recommendations, including the financial strategy, site risk analysis, due diligence, and development timeline, to the Vice President, CFO, and CEO.
• Direct searches for appropriate land for single- and multifamily housing developments, negotiate site control, and oversee all due diligence data collection and analysis.
• Create urgency and drive within the development team to ensure projects proceed on schedule and within budget.
• Establish and maintain effective working relationships with and represent SHE to Board members, colleagues, public elected officials and employees, staff from other community organizations, funders, the business community, and the general public.
• Present new projects to SHE’s Board of Directors and public entities for entitlements (City Council, Board of Supervisors, etc.)
• Seek appropriate financial resources to maintain and expand development efforts, including the effective implementation of capital strategies and oversight of funding applications to public and private lenders/funders.
• Oversee an organizational vision for construction standards, product selection, and quality control, collaborating with the Director of Asset Management to ensure operational efficiency and minimize product replacement timelines.
• Prepare Department program and project budgets; review fiscal data, effectively manage within budget; review and oversee developer fee and equity installment projections to actual.
• Review and analyze program regulations and laws, and coordinate advocacy and outreach efforts at the local, state, and federal levels.

This position is based in Visalia, CA. SHE owns an environmentally sensitive main office in Visalia, providing a long-term base of operations and minimizing operating costs. Travel to Kings, Kern, Mariposa, Merced, Madera, Fresno, Stanislaus, San Joaquin, and Tulare counties will be expected. The Director position can be hybrid, with several days/week required in the office or on-site for project and partner meetings.

Must Haves

Candidates well-suited for this position will be able to demonstrate the following skills, experience, and qualities:

• Deep commitment to SHE’s mission, organizational values, and the individuals, families, and communities that SHE serves.
• Track record of effective management and leadership of a team.
• Demonstrated ability to work collaboratively within a complex, fast-moving environment.
• Advanced expertise with Low-Income Housing Tax Credits, and working knowledge of CEQA, NEPA, land use entitlements, by-right laws and pathways, the Subdivision Map Act, and other codes and regulations.
• Ability to understand complex financing issues, including capital accounts, the allocation of losses, a variety of depreciation schedules, tax credit pricing, and loan terms/rates.
• Strong written and oral communication skills.
• Demonstrated ability to identify, develop, and cultivate partnerships and relationships, and make a variety of public presentations and pitches to a variety of audiences, including City Council, Boards, lenders, foundations, and other partners and stakeholders.
• Highly motivated, resourceful, and able to manage multiple overlapping projects, deadlines, and priorities.
• Strategic thinker who can also be detail-oriented.

Investment in staff is a core value at SHE. This includes staff health and wellness, flexibility in workspaces and work hours, fair compensation and benefits, an inclusive work environment, supporting career development, and valuing staff tenure.