Project Manager of Real Estate Development
As a core member of a small and effective team, The Kelsey is looking for an experienced project manager to drive forward our mixed ability, mixed income multifamily communities across the United States. They will support our housing pipeline through partnerships with our development partners, ensuring The Kelsey’s mission of inclusive, accessible, affordable housing is reflected in the ultimate product. As a steward and representative of The Kelsey’s mission, the ideal candidate has experience working housing finance, takes a collaborative approach to problem solving, and is looking to join a high growth organization committed to inclusion and equity.
About The Kelsey
We are a disability forward housing organization that accelerates and advocates for housing where people with and without disabilities, of all incomes and backgrounds thrive. Our approach both develops housing in practice and changes policy through advocacy, community organizing, and field building.
We are:
- Inclusive: We center our work on the lived experience of people with disabilities as well as their families and caregivers. Our housing developments are inclusive; so is our staff, board, consultants, and partners.
- Collaborative: Through engagement with diverse cross-sector partners, we have advanced housing development, sponsored legislation, and hosted programs with leading organizations in real estate, affordable housing, advocacy, philanthropy and disability rights.
- Relentless: We pursue our mission with a never-ending drive. In our first three years of operations we secured two prime-located Bay Area sites, unlocked over $100M in funding, secured over 240 homes in our pipeline, and convened over 300 stakeholders.
- Transparent and Iterative: We’re a learning and sharing organization. While focused on the problem of the lack of inclusive housing, we’re open with different strategies, skills, tools, and models needed to solve and to share what works (and what doesn’t) transparently with others in our field.
More about us from Google, the San Francisco Chronicle, Harvard, and our project with the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative.
About the Role:
The Project Manager will partner with our COO and our real estate development partners to support our housing pipeline, organization capacity, and strategic growth.
Manage Housing Technical Assistance Projects (50% of time) – We are partnering with several organizations to build their capacity to create inclusive, affordable, accessible housing. The Project Manager’s role is to ensure that the vision is executed against while maintaining feasibility for the project. Some the work you will do:
- Develop and execute RFPs to find development, design, and construction partners for inclusive housing projects
- Support public financing strategies and applications
- Position projects to philanthropic partners, lenders, and tax credit investors
- Support real estate partners on finance close activities
- Work with property owners to design and execute resident services plan
Identify and Oversee New Pipeline Projects (25%) – In addition to working with partners, we are also pursuing our own housing developments:
- Review sites for potential development of new construction
- Work with technical partners to identify structural/architectural possibilities that are both cost-effective and accessible
- Work with financing partners to determine a feasible capital stack
Support Field Building Efforts (25%) – As a growing, learning organization, we are actively testing where our organization can have the biggest impact to create more disability-forward housing. This role would also contribute in real estate-adjacent areas:
- Support services model pilot program in Oakland
- Contribute to technical assistance programs for disability organizations
- Market and promote our Design Standards for Accessibility and Inclusivity
- Provide real estate perspectives for our federal housing policy advocacy
We would love to see your application if you:
- Have led project management for at least a portion of the affordable housing development process from entitlements, financing, construction, lease up, to property management
- Understand the financing process for developments using low income housing tax credits (LIHTC) and other public subsidies
- Interested in developing a disability-forward housing across the country
- Are comfortable with complexity and making progress when complete information is not available
- Are passionate about inclusive and equitable communities, social innovation, and disability justice
It is mission-critical that our team includes people with lived experiences and diverse perspectives related to our work. We strongly encourage people with disabilities, Black, Indigenous, Latina/o/x, Asian American and Pacific Islander and people of color, LGBTQIA+ persons, and people with lived experience with affordable housing and/or housing instability to apply.
How to apply:
We recognize that each individual can bring a unique set of skills to our organization. Even if you don’t meet these requirements 100%, send us your resume at caroline@thekelsey.org.
With your resume, please send us a short note answering the following questions:
- What part of our mission excites you the most?
- From your past experience, what part of the housing development process do you enjoy the most and why?
- (Optional) How would your lived experience or identity inform your work at The Kelsey?