Job announcement: Texas Houser Planner Analyst / Research Associate in Houston

This policy analyst / research associate is based in our Houston, Texas office. The position is part of a five-member Houston and sixteen-member statewide team of advocates, policy innovators and organizers committed to achieving housing and community racial and economic justice.

Texas Low Income Housing Information Service, A.K.A. Texas Housers, is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) corporation established in 1988. We have offices in Austin, the Rio Grande Valley, Fort Worth, San Antonio and Houston.

Texas Housers is a dynamic organization that works in partnership with grassroots leaders, organizers and public interest attorneys to address problems of low-income people and communities in the fields of fair and affordable housing, environmental justice, and community development. We employ our skills and resources to support grassroots leaders and representative organizations to develop and win model solutions to solve critical housing, environmental and community development problems.

Visit our website and read our blog at www.texashousers.org to learn more about our team, mission, values and work.

ROLES

• Acquire, manage, analyze data from government agencies.
• Craft research questions, methodologies, findings and policy solutions that are data-driven and community-supported.
• Provide analytical/technical support for community leaders and legal advocates.
• Produce a wide range of research deliverables that examine, test, corroborate community and legal claims on issues of housing equity and community development.
• Strengthen Texas Housers’ community partnerships with lower income persons, community based organizations of low income persons and legal advocates.
• Manage relationships between community partners, outreach workers, researchers, and attorneys; help organize group clients for effective administrative and legal advocacy to win their housing and neighborhood rights.
• Coordinate legal advocacy, grassroots activism, and policy advocacy in three broad issue areas: Fair and Affordable Housing, Environmental Justice, and Community Advocacy.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS:

• Bachelor’s degree required; master’s degree or above preferred.
• Strong commitment to public interest work, equity, and social justice.
• 1-3 years of experience both in and outside the classroom in: community development, urban planning and policy, community organizing, public health, sustainable design, (para)legal research, and/or participatory action research. Experience does not need to be solely academic or professional; can include volunteer, capstone/practicum courses, and other lived experiences.
• Well-versed in critical social theory, brings an intersectional, multidisciplinary perspective that cuts across various issues (e.g. links between housing, public health, and environmental racism).
• Exhibit and deploy a systemic, comprehensive understanding of housing and urban development, residential segregation and public benefits discrimination.
• Proficient in at least one software program for statistical analysis or visual communications.
• Required proficiency in ArcGIS. This position will use ArcGIS to perform analyses of housing, racial demographics, socioeconomics, provision of infrastructure, environmental justice.
• Has facilitated public meetings as well as community outreach around social justice issues.
• Has created research deliverables that are NOT standard academic papers, such as: maps, memoranda, reports, executive summaries, posters, murals, brochures, flyers, websites, smartphone apps, photo essays, 3D models, etc.
• Can design and execute research plans to address systemic, community-wide problems in housing and related aspects of urban development.
• Ability to strategically integrate various technologies as well as qualitative and quantitative methods to address research questions and serve community interests. Final deliverables should be adapted for a wide range of audiences when needed.
• Has skills to develop innovative research methodologies that are simultaneously community-centered and data-driven.
• Meticulous work ethic (i.e. pays very close attention to detail). Willingness to defend research methodologies before public officials in testimony and attorneys in depositions and in court.
• Ability to efficiently manage multiple projects at one time on a wide range of issues; acquiring data, attending, participating in and monitoring public meetings, acquiring and analyzing public information.
• Desire and ability to work as part of a team.

LANGUAGE PROFICIENCY

• English fluency required
• Spanish fluency strongly preferred

HOW TO APPLY

Interested candidates should submit via email to Karen Paup at karen@texashousing.org:

• a one-page cover letter summarizing your interest in and qualifications for the position;
• your resume;
• a writing sample not to exceed three pages;
• two examples of your GIS skills; and
• three professional references.

BENEFITS

• Paid sick time.
• Paid vacation.
• Accrued retirement benefits vest after two years.
• Salary range: $41,000 – $47,000.

Applicants from historically marginalized and underrepresented groups are strongly encouraged to apply for this position. We value a diverse, multi-lingual, multi-cultural staff that reflects our partner communities.