Research and Strategic Analysis Intern

New York State Homes and Community Renewal (HCR) is the State's affordable housing agency, with a mission to build, preserve, and protect affordable housing and increase homeownership throughout New York State. Under the leadership of Governor Kathy Hochul and Commissioner RuthAnne Visnauskas, HCR is a vibrant, innovative agency that integrates and leverages New York State's housing resources. We have offices in New York City, Albany, Buffalo, and Syracuse, and employ a diverse workforce of professionals who are hard-working and committed to serving low- and moderate-income families. Our mission is far reaching, encompassing single and multifamily housing finance, home improvement, rent regulation, housing subsidies, and community development. We partner regularly with a variety of public and private stakeholders. Achieving this mission requires a wide range of skills and backgrounds in public policy, administration, real estate, architecture, finance, law, and many other areas of expertise. We seek to provide a workplace environment that is productive, flexible, accountable, ethical, and caring. Our employees are empowered to make a difference where they live and work. We offer competitive pay and a comprehensive benefits package, including paid leave, health, dental, vision, retirement, and family-friendly policies. Reporting directly to the Chief Operating Officer (COO), the Office of Research and Strategic Analysis (ORSA) provides crosscutting support to HCR's executive and program leadership in advancing the agency's mission to build, preserve, and protect affordable housing, and increase homeownership in New York State. Created in late 2017, the ORSA team consists of data scientists, analysts and policy specialists who, using quantitative and analytical research methods and strategies, provide data-driven guidance on high-priority initiatives and answer questions that are critical to the success of the agency and component programs and offices. Internship Summary Reporting to Assistant Director and the Principal Economist, working with other ORSA staff and interns, they will lead the effort to develop a survey of limited equity co-op historical records in New York State (project description below). The project may also involve working with other units within HCR, as well as entities external to the agency. The internship will culminate in the completion of a deliverable and presentation of findings. The intern will also be involved in various projects related to housing conditions and production in New York State. Survey of Limited Equity Co-Op Historical Records. The goal of this project is to collect and analyze data, to the degree feasible, on the history and status of the State's limited equity co-op developments. The deliverable(s) may take a variety of forms (e.g. a report, a PowerPoint/presentation, interactive maps and/or infographics, quantitative datasets, etc.) but should, to the greatest extent possible, provide a survey of the role limited equity co-ops have played in New York's housing stock over the last 25 years. This survey will identify patterns in sales, regulatory status, and financial condition, to the extent such data can be collected and analyzed using historical administrative and publicly available data. The deliverable(s) should include the creation of a new dataset derived from historical sources and administrative records and an analysis of this data that identifies how limited equity co-ops have served their shareholder-cooperators in the past and present. Beyond the basic research component of this project, and depending on the intern's skills and interests, they may choose to use a variety of analytic tools and techniques to produce the deliverable(s): quantitative analyses using Excel, R, etc.; geospatial analyses using ArcGIS, AGOL, etc. Housing Market Conditions (HMC). The HMC is a quarterly update of the market conditions in New York State. We hope to add two sets of metrics to the HMC: (1) information about the Housing Choice Vouchers (e.g., demographics, length of stay, local characteristics, etc.); and (2) wages in the industries most closely related to housing production. For the HCV, the data is provided internally by ORSA, so the primary task for the intern is to summarize and tabulate the data to generate statistics of interest. Regarding wages, data needs to be obtained for the Quarterly Census of Wages and Employment (QCEW) flat files. The intern's first step would be to download and clean the data, and upon quality approval, to use them to generate statistics of interest. This project would require quantitative analysis skills and knowledge of statistical software such as Stata or R. Housing Production Model. This model would ideally estimate the likelihood of changes in housing production following changes in local zoning regulations-e.g., allowing for x percent in additional density in a municipality. The model should take into account comparable historical trajectories of housing development in various areas of New York State, as well as local characteristics (such as the amount of land that can accommodate new development, local densities, construction costs) and various policies that might affect housing production. Completing this task requires a general understanding of housing and the construction sector, as well as basic to medium-level statistical and analytical skills. Essential Functions Develop a framework for collecting and presenting relevant information and data across New York State. Using the internet and other available resources, housing policies in New York State. Using a variety of analytic tools and methods, provide a summary of similarities, differences, gaps, and contradictions across various housing policies. Using ArcGIS, create digital zoning maps of municipalities across New York State. Qualifications Excellent oral, written, and communication skills Exceptional problem-solving abilities Ability to quickly and clearly synthesize information Ability to use data to make decisions Experience with geospatial analysis and tools including ArcGIS and AGOL Expertise in the use of Microsoft Office products, specifically Excel and Access Demonstrated experience with qualitative and quantitative research designs and statistical analysis techniques a plus Experience with a statistical package such as STATA, SAS, or R a plus Ability to work in a flexible, fast paced, mission driven environment Interest and/or experience in land use law and/or urban policy/planning preferred

Created: 2024-10-19