Are you a caring professional seeking to serve your community? The City of Santa Rosa is seeking qualified applicants to join a hard-working team of housing professionals.
The City of Santa Rosa is committed to building a workforce reflective of our community and establishing a lasting culture of equity and belonging within our organization. Our collective talents and expertise contribute to high-quality public services that support a vibrant, resilient, inclusive City for our community and visitors. We celebrate a diverse workforce and welcome all qualified candidates to apply.
The Benefits of City Employment
In addition to offering a challenging, rewarding work environment and excellent salary, the City of Santa Rosa provides a generous suite of benefits, including retirement through CalPERS, a competitive leave accrual package, your choice of health plan, a flexible spending program, employer contributions to a Retiree Health Savings plan, flexible work schedule options, and top of the line employer-paid vision and dental coverage. More information regarding benefits associated with this position can be found on our Miscellaneous Employee Benefits Page.
Additional Benefits Include-
12 paid holidays annually, plus 2 to 3 “floating” holidays per year depending on years of service
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$500 annually for wellness
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The City is a Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program (PSLF) Employer
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Paid Family Leave
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4% General Salary Increase - July 2026
The Position and Current Opening
Housing and Community Services Technicians perform a variety of technical tasks in support of housing and community services programs; provide information and customer service to participants, applicants, property managers and landlords, grantees, housing developers, and the community; collect and monitor data with a high degree of accuracy; and provide technical assistance to professional staff.
The current vacancy is in the Rental Assistance Division of the Housing & Community Services Department. The eligible candidate list resulting from this recruitment may be used to fill future openings in the Housing & Community Services Department . If you are interested in any Housing & Community Services Technician position with the City, you are encouraged to apply at this time.
THE IDEAL CANDIDATE:The ideal candidate will possess:
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A passion for serving vulnerable residents within their community.
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A dedication to public service.
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Experience managing multiple tasks and working flexibly and collaboratively with a broad range of contacts including program participants, landlords and property managers, housing developers, community advocates, other government agencies, and City partners.
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Exceptional interpersonal skills, including the ability to communicate effectively verbally and in writing, and the knowledge and technical abilities necessary to maintain a caseload with a high degree of accuracy.
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Experience working directly in housing programs and the ability to speak Spanish are highly desirable.
Team orientation, problem-solving ability, good judgement, and dependability are key attributes for success in this position.
Housing & Community Services Department
The Housing & Community Services Department strives to build community and improve the quality of life for all Santa Rosa residents. Key programs include the Housing Choice Voucher Program, Housing Trust, and Homeless Services. The Department is a major contributor to the City Council’s goals of meeting our community’s housing needs and attaining functional zero homelessness. Through partnerships with regional, state and federal agencies, affordable housing developers, community groups, and non-profit organizations, the Department endeavors to serve all Santa Rosa residents.
Rental Assistance Division
The Rental Assistance Program provides assistance to extremely- and very-low income residents through federal funds from the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Over 2,200 residents, including seniors, persons with disabilities, families, and veterans receive this assistance. It is the City’s largest housing program, bringing $3M in monthly rental payments to Santa Rosa landlords and is a key component of the City’s Housing for All initiative. Specific programs include the Housing Choice Voucher, Emergency Housing Voucher, and Family Self-Sufficiency Programs; HOME tenant based rental assistance; Project-Based Vouchers and HUD-Veteran’s Affairs Supportive Housing (VASH).
Homeless Services Division
The Homeless Services Division works with community partners to provide services to persons experiencing homelessness and to reduce the impacts of homelessness on the community in alignment with the City’s Homelessness Solutions Strategy. The City invests approximately $5 million annually in wide range of services, including emergency shelter, street outreach, encampment resolution, supportive services, and housing assistance. The Homeless Services Division and its programs are a key component of the City’s goal of attaining functional zero homelessness.
Housing Trust Division (Compliance)
The Housing Trust provides loans to developers to fund acquisition, development, preservation and rehabilitation of affordable rental complexes through federal funds from the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the State of California, and locally generated resources. In addition to development, the Trust Division monitors over 5,000 housing units to ensure compliance with affordability agreements and supports the City’s Mobilehome Rent Control Ordinance.
Selection Process
Applicants possessing the MOST DESIRABLE qualifications based on a screening of application materials including (most importantly) a supplemental questionnaire will be invited to the next steps in the selection process.
Please complete a thoughtful, thorough Supplemental Questionnaire submission. Your responses to these questions will be scored using criteria specific to this position. Incomplete responses, generic responses, and responses such as "See Resume" may be cause for disqualification from the selection process.
Additional requirements, such as successful completion of a physical exam, drug screen, etc., may apply, depending on the duties and responsibilities of the position. If you receive a conditional job offer for the position, the requirements upon which the offer is contingent will be outlined in the conditional job letter.
Santa Rosa - A Wonderful City to Call Home
The City of Santa Rosa is nestled in the center of famous Sonoma Wine Country, located just 55 miles north of San Francisco and 30 miles east of the Pacific Ocean with a population of approximately 180,000. Santa Rosa serves as the County seat and the center of trade, government, commerce, and medical facilities for the North Bay. The surrounding area is home to over a hundred wineries and vineyards and many beautiful parks and recreational facilities, including golf courses. Santa Rosa is in the center of a nationally recognized cycling area. We boast many attractions associated with large cities, including a symphony, performing arts center, theater productions and internationally recognized restaurants, yet still retain the warmth and small town feel of decades past. Santa Rosa has been named one of the 50 greenest cities in the United States with one of the top five mid-sized downtowns in California.
Knowledge of: Principles and practices of economic development and/or housing program administration; principles and practices of interviewing and application screening; community resources related to social service; basic methods, principles and procedures related to record keeping and real estate; methods and techniques applied to mathematics and financial functions; workload management techniques; modern office practices and equipment; and spread sheet programs such as Microsoft Access and Excel.
Ability to: Learn and apply federal, state and local laws, rules and regulations relating to the provision of a variety of redevelopment, economic development and housing programs to interpret, explain and apply them; advise and assist program participants in obtaining departmental services; communicate clearly and concisely, orally and in writing, face to face and by telephone; give instructions, respond to questions and provide referrals to appropriate social service agencies; coordinate several projects/processes at a time; establish and maintain a variety of records, reports and files; maintain and reconcile financial transaction records, work within time constraints and meet deadlines; interact tactfully and effectively with program participants, occasionally in situations where relations may be strained; type adequately to perform duties of the position; establish and maintain cooperative working relationships with co-workers, clients, landlords, industry professionals, and the public.
Experience and Education: Any combination equivalent to experience and education that could likely provide the required knowledge and abilities would be qualifying. A typical way to obtain the knowledge and abilities would be: Experience – Sufficient experience which demonstrates possession of the knowledge and abilities listed above. Examples of experience may include performing eligibility work in a social service setting, working with real estate programs, preparing title reports, performing compliance activities and data collecting. Experience directly related to any housing or economic development program is highly desirable. Education – Equivalent to the completion of the twelfth grade. Completion of college levels courses in economics, community development, real estate, planning, human services or a related field is preferred and possession of an AA/AS degree in a related field is highly desirable. The ability to speak and write Spanish or other languages used by various segments of the City’s population is desirable.
License or Certificate: This classification may requires the use of a personal or City vehicle while conducting City business. In order to drive, individuals must be physically capable of operating the vehicles safely and must possess a valid, Class C, California driver's license OR be able to demonstrate the ability to travel on scheduled or unscheduled visits to various locations in the City which may or may not be reachable by public transportation.
Additional requirements, such as successful completion of a physical exam, drug screen, etc., may apply, depending on the duties and responsibilities of the position. If you receive a conditional job offer for the position, the requirements upon which the offer is contingent will be outlined in the conditional job letter.
