Meet Vance Rogers, Housing Litigation Community Coordinator
Over his 40-year career at NYCHA, Vance Rogers has not shied away from the opportunity to delve into various facets of the organization.
Mr. Rogers, in fact, has relished the chance to assist a new department, apply another skill, or visit other areas of the city through his range of work experience at the Authority.
Whether it was providing housing assistance at a development, working on the rollouts of new computer software in Operations Services, or overseeing Law Department Housing Assistants appearing in Housing Court, Mr. Rogers has thrived when taking on new challenges in service of NYCHA.
“One of the best things about working for the Housing Authority over the years is that I’ve been able to go to different units, and it’s felt like you’re going to a different job,” said Mr. Rogers, who currently serves as a Community Coordinator in the Law Department’s Housing Litigation division. “It’s a totally different experience, and it kind of gives new life to the job.”
A Long Island native, Mr. Rogers first joined the NYCHA workforce in 1984 after learning about a job opportunity from his aunt, a NYCHA employee at the time. He started as a Housing Assistant at Astoria Houses in Queens and then transferred to a role with Operations Services several years later. Among his responsibilities in Operations was assisting with the initial rollout of technology for resident data systems that were then switching to computers for the first time.
Mr. Rogers was later assigned to the Law Department Landlord and Tenant Division before moving to the Housing Court Unit; when court was temporarily suspended during the height of the COVID pandemic, he transferred to a position in the Applications and Tenancy Administration Department (ATAD).
Most recently, Mr. Rogers has served as a Housing Litigation Community Coordinator since 2022. In this role, he supervises Housing Assistants who represent NYCHA in various Housing Court cases for matters such as non-payment of rent and holdovers.
Mr. Rogers provides a range of assistance to staff in court, including creating a calendar of their upcoming court cases, recording attendance, and making ledger cards. Other responsibilities include working with NYCHA attorneys to write reports and prepare court documents, gathering case information, and assisting with accessing court databases for records.
“We’re basically giving support to the lawyers in court,” he said. “Our Housing Assistants are really hard-working. If they have any questions or problems they run into, then they’ll come to me.”
According to Housing Assistant Shilda Albert, Mr. Rogers “exhibits great leadership and communication skills.”
Mr. Rogers, who regularly attends court cases in Queens on Mondays and Thursdays, enjoys being a part of the Housing Litigation team and commends the work ethic of his colleagues.
“This is a good team,” he noted. “We’re a hard-working unit and we help each other out. Everybody is willing to help out other people when they run into problems.”