Housing Counselor, Social Work

About the Organization

The Allston Brighton Community Development Corporation (ABCDC) has served the Allston
Brighton Neighborhoods of Boston since 1980. ABCDC builds a stronger, more stable community by representing and supporting the expressed interests, positive engagement and leadership of Allston Brighton’s diverse local communities, institutions, individuals, and families of all incomes. Today, Allston Brighton Community Development Corporation addresses critical changes in our community, focuses our role as a catalyst for stability and positions ourselves to create healthy communities and new opportunities for people of all incomes to engage as civic leaders and improve their lives.

We are dedicated to supporting neighborhood growth that retains a diverse socio-economic population, becoming more stable with stakeholders who actively participate in ensuring its well-being. We are expanding resident participation in civic engagement around safe, healthy communities. In collaboration with our community, we engage with institutional and government partners to address community-identified and community-driven needs and goals.

Allston Brighton CDC (ABCDC) seeks a Housing Counselor to join its Home ownership & Counseling Programs. ABCDC is seeking to hire a Housing Counselor who is fluent in both Spanish and English and will be able to present, coach, and counsel in both languages. The candidate hired must either be HUD Counselor Certified or commit to being HUD Counselor certified within six to eight weeks of hire.

Housing counselors are critical to ABCDC’s mission of helping low- and moderate-income residents achieve greater financial stability and long-term upward economic mobility. The ideal candidate is an organized, collaborative professional who enjoys educating and empowering individuals through both one-on-one counseling and group instruction. Successful candidates will demonstrate excellent written communication skills, strong time management, cultural humility, adaptability, and the ability to manage multiple priorities while maintaining exceptional client service and documentation standards.

They will also be comfortable developing educational materials, updating resources, and contributing to a collaborative, mission-driven team. This person is equally comfortable with working independently and in the context of a team. The position requires:

• Analytical thinking and creative problem solving;
• High level of attention to detail and self-motivation;
• Familiarity with and/or ability to familiarize oneself with various software applications and technologies including but not exclusive to Salesforce, Zoom, Form Assembly, Microsoft Office and mPact Pro;
• Ability to communicate clearly and professionally both orally and in writing.

ABCDC increasingly connects our constituent communities with in-person outreach, classes, and workshops. Therefore, it is a priority for candidates to be able to work in-person and assist the Home ownership and Counseling Programs Manager (H&C Manager) with community outreach efforts.

This position requires the ability to confidently facilitate homebuyer education classes, and
counseling sessions in both virtual (Zoom) and in-person environments. The successful candidate
will be comfortable using Zoom and other virtual engagement tools to deliver interactive
presentations and effectively engage participants in online learning.

Report to:
This position reports directly to the Home ownership and Counseling Programs
Manager (H&C Manager).

• Schedule and coordinate workshops and training sessions both in English and Spanish.
• Co-facilitate home ownership workshops and classes in virtual and in-person classroom settings.
• Provide 1:1 housing counseling to Home buying 101 graduates in a timely manner.
• Complete formal intake needs assessments for new counseling clients and co-create a written “Action Plan” identifying goals and barriers; participant readiness in the process; and creating reasonable completion timetable(s).
• Monitor “active,” open client files with timely follow-up in accordance with their Action Plan.
• Collect, input, maintain, and protect…