Join Our Team

We are a team of tenants, organizers, attorneys, and paralegals working to create a future where all Austinites have access to healthy and affordable housing. We are always looking for talented and passionate folks to join our team.

Available positions are listed below. Please check back regularly for updated opportunities to help us achieve our mission!

Community Education Outreach Specialist

About BASTA

BASTA works to build tenant power by supporting organized groups of renters -tenants associations- and by educating the larger renter community about evictions and other tenant issues. Our tenants association work supports tenants organizations at multifamily properties throughout Austin to advance campaigns to win dignity, respect, better living conditions, and community benefits. Our community education work includes interactive presentations, the development of digital and print materials, and connecting individual tenants facing eviction to resource and rights information. BASTA envisions a future where the collective action of Austin renters has brought healthy and affordable housing to all.

Position Description

The Community Education Outreach Specialist will support BASTA’s frontline community education efforts including materials development, adaptation, and organization, as well as workshop co-facilitation and community tabling. The Outreach Specialist will also take the lead on eviction-specific outreach activities, including responding to incoming eviction-related inquiries as a result of our Eviction Notification System and conducting flyering and info drops at “high evictor” and bad actor properties in Travis County to share tenant rights information. They will coordinate with BASTA volunteers to increase organizational capacity to conduct these activities. The Outreach Specialist will be crucial to ensuring that the lived experience of tenants guides BASTA’s work and advocacy strategies. The successful candidate thrives in engaging others, can find laughter and light even in hard situations, sees the importance of meeting people where they’re at, and believes that “knowledge is power.”

Responsibilities:

Community Education:

Identify community education needs, drawing on outreach experience to tenants, in collaboration with the Director of Community Education and Arts Advocacy.
Support the development of accessible community education print, digital, and workshop materials, in collaboration with the Community Education Paralegal and Director of Community Education and Arts Advocacy
Edit, update and translate existing community ed materials, in collaboration with the Community Education Paralegal, to ensure that they are accessible to community members across language, literacy, and educational levels.
Help develop content (including creative skits and props) for, and co-facilitate, tenants rights workshops and presentations at partner organizations and other community institutions alongside team members.
Conduct tabling at community partner locations and highly trafficked areas (such as bus stops, HEB parking lots, etc) in collaboration with the Community Education Paralegal
Maintain an up-to-date and well-organized Know-Your-Rights bank of materials,, in collaboration with the Community Education Paralegal.
Build and maintain relationships with community partners (including updated contact list), serving as the main point of contact and organization for all community education requests and inquiries.
Maintain and expand a community resource guide of available supports, including legal aid, rental assistance, and basic needs resources.

Eviction-Specific Outreach:

Coordinate and send outreach texts to tenants facing eviction with information about their eviction rights and connect them to resources (also known as the Eviction Notification System);
Return eviction-specific tenant calls, texts, emails, and inquiries, as well as referrals from other BASTA staff members providing basic eviction education and connecting tenants with other community resources.
Flyer and conduct targeted eviction-information-packet drops, with volunteer support, at top evicting properties in Travis County to make sure tenants know their eviction rights and are aware of possible defenses.
Maintain and call upon database of active volunteers, recruiting additional volunteers as necessary, to maximize organizational capacity to conduct outreach activities.
Based on data provided by Data Analyst, target outreach efforts to top evicting properties.
Conduct eviction outreach call clinics.

Data Collection & Program Evaluation:

Contemporaneously document all outreach activities to track outcomes and ensure compliance with funding requirements.
Collect feedback surveys and input survey data into systems.
Document and record stories of tenants facing eviction or recently evicted, as well as other tenant stories collected during outreach and community education experiences.

All other duties assigned.

Required Qualifications:

Commitment to social, economic, racial and language justice;
Previous outreach or community engagement experience;
Excellent communication skills in English and Spanish;
Ability to communicate complex concepts in plain language;
Proficiency with Google Docs, Sheets and Slides or Microsoft equivalents;
Strong organizational skills;
Ability to work independently and as part of a team;
Ability to work evenings and weekends; and
Vehicle and driver’s license.

Preferred Qualifications:

Proficiency in additional languages often spoken or used by tenants in Austin (ie., Arabic, Vietnamese, Pashto, Burmese, ASL);
Experience with community education and popular education techniques;
Knowledge of housing issues and/or landlord-tenant law;
Experience with working in multilingual spaces;
Experience designing effective flyers and print materials with knowledge of Canva a plus; and
Familiarity with Salesforce, Slack, Miro, Hustle, and Toggl.

Compensation:

Salary $40,840-$54,320, depending on experience. Full medical and dental benefits are provided to employees. Paid vacation, sick days, and holidays.

To Apply:

Email a resume and a paragraph or two about why you are interested in the position to jobs@bastaaustin.org with the subject line “Community Education Outreach Specialist.”

BASTA has a strong commitment to hiring staff that reflect the tenant communities we support. People of color, immigrants, people with disabilities, LGBTQ+ people and renters with experience living in low-income housing are encouraged to apply.

Director of Organizing

In furthering the cause of tenant and housing justice in the Austin area, Building and Strengthening Tenant Action (BASTA) seeks a Director of Organizing to join our team. BASTA, housed in Texas RioGrande Legal Aid (TRLA), works with low-income Austin renters to fight for tenant respect and dignity and to advocate for healthy, safe, and affordable housing. BASTA employs a variety of advocacy techniques, including education, organizing, and litigation.

Position Description:

The Director of Organizing position presents a unique opportunity for a strategic, dynamic, and thoughtful leader to advance BASTA’s commitment to building power through base building, grassroots leadership development, and tenants association campaigns. The successful candidate will have a robust grassroots organizing background, strong campaign planning and strategy skills, and management experience.

The Director of Organizing will be responsible for overseeing our property organizing work and refining BASTA’s organizing model, which centers the voices and the lived experience of those who are most impacted by the current housing crisis: low-income renters. As a member of the leadership team, the Director of Organizing will also guide organization-wide decisions and play a key role in maintaining a healthy organizational culture. The Director of Organizing will report directly to the Project Director.

Responsibilities:

Recruit, hire, supervise, manage and support BASTA organizing staff to build the power of tenants associations in Austin by running and winning campaigns at low-income multifamily properties. Currently, 3-4 direct reports and 3 indirect reports.
Train organizers in outreach, facilitation, meeting planning, tenant leadership development, and other key skills to develop robust consensus-oriented tenants associations.
Lead comprehensive property organizing strategy including assessing new properties for organizing potential and collaborating with community partners to identify organizing opportunities.
Guide organizers in the development and implementation of campaign plans to address collective priorities of tenants associations, including researching properties and targets, conducting power analysis, selecting tactics, and messaging.
Support and when necessary take lead on tenant meetings, negotiations, direct actions, media events and other tactics to further property campaigns.
Refine and further develop BASTA organizing model in collaboration with BASTA leadership team.
Ensure that data and deliverables are regularly updated and assist with grant reporting.
Any other duties required by the BASTA Project Director, or her designee.

Required Qualifications:

Commitment to social, economic, racial and language justice;
2+ years of experience managing multiple staff, interns or volunteers;
3+ years of grassroots organizing experience including base building, campaign planning and leadership development;
Experience with effectively coaching or mentoring individuals for leadership and professional development purposes;
Excellent verbal and written communication skills in English and Spanish, including the ability to persuade others;
Strong strategic thinking and analytical skills;
Strong interpersonal, leadership, and consensus-building skills, including the ability to work effectively across sectors and in multi-ethnic and multi-generational spaces;
Experience with planning and leading participatory meetings, direct actions, and media events;
Ability to effectively multi-task, work well with others under pressure, and creatively adapt as needed;
Proficiency with Google Docs, Sheets and Slides or Microsoft equivalents;
Experience designing effective flyers and print materials, knowledge of Canva a plus;
Ability to work nights and weekends; and
Vehicle and driver's license.

Preferred Qualifications:

Experience running campaigns led by directly-impacted communities;
Knowledge of tenant rights and housing justice issues, including healthy housing, code enforcement, affordable housing and equitable development. Texas experience a plus;
Experience creating and implementing popular education tools and curricula;
Experience with roleplaying and leading role plays;
Strong understanding of the role that communications and media play in grassroots organizing and advocacy;
Experience working in multilingual spaces;
Knowledge of program development, budgets, and grant reporting and writing; and
Familiarity with Salesforce, Slack, Miro, Hustle, and Toggl and project management software such as Asana.

Compensation:

Salary $59,000-$69,000, depending on experience. Full medical and dental benefits are provided to employees. Paid vacation, sick days, and holidays. This is an exempt position but hours are reasonable.

To Apply:

Email a resume and a cover letter describing interest in the position to jobs@bastaaustin.org with the subject line “BASTA Director of Organizing Application.”

Staff Attorney

About BASTA:

BASTA (Building and Strengthening Tenant Action) is a project housed in Texas RioGrande Legal Aid (TRLA) dedicated to helping Austin renters work alongside their neighbors to improve conditions in their homes and communities. In response to longstanding community frustration over substandard housing and landlord impunity, BASTA’s Organizing and Eviction Mitigation Teams work in tandem to shift power and advance housing justice for Austinite renters. Our Organizing Team supports tenants associations at multifamily properties throughout Austin to advance campaigns to win dignity, respect, better living conditions and community benefits. Our Eviction Mitigation Team works to erode the root of landlord power - the eviction - by harnessing data and working with volunteers to connect tenants facing eviction to resource and rights information. We envision a future where the collective action of Austin renters has brought healthy and affordable housing to all.

Position Description:

BASTA’s Staff Attorney will be a pivotal member of our team responsible for a wide range of legal activities related to tenants rights, community benefits agreements, and housing issues. The Staff Attorney will work closely with the Project Director, the BASTA Research and Policy Director, BASTA paralegals, and TRLA housing attorneys to support the Organizing and Eviction Mitigation Teams’ efforts. This role requires a dynamic individual with strong legal expertise who locates their legal advocacy in the context of advancing campaigns led by directly-impacted tenants and who sees lawyering as one tactic in the housing justice movement. The ideal candidate is a creative thinker who is not afraid of the messiness that comes with community lawyering; has the patience and curiosity to tease out client stories and questions to ensure mutual understanding; and likes to roll up their sleeves to develop the mastery necessary to make seemingly complex information accessible.

Responsibilities:

Provide legal representation to individual tenants in various housing-related matters, including but not limited to eviction defense, habitability issues, community rule issues, and ledger disputes. Such representation includes counsel and advice, negotiation, and litigation;
Conduct client intake interviews, assess legal needs, and develop tailored legal strategies;
Represent tenants associations affirmatively, including negotiating and drafting community benefits agreements;
Oversee BASTA legal intake line and direct paralegal work;
Develop and maintain relationships with TRLA housing attorneys and other public interest attorneys in Austin to build capacity to co-counsel and represent BASTA tenants;
Provide legal guidance and support to BASTA staff and tenants associations to inform and advance campaigns;
Serve as a resource for team members seeking legal expertise;
Work with field staff and Research and Policy Director to develop educational materials and resources about affordable housing tenants’ legal rights and responsibilities;
Conduct interactive know your rights presentations at tenants associations as needed in conjunction with field staff;
Collaborate with the Research and Policy Director on tenant-related policy advocacy;
Develop community benefits agreement template, based on existing materials, and work with Research and Policy Director to familiarize staff and tenants with community benefit agreements;
Create policies to ensure separation of legal team and organizing work to avoid conflicts of interest and litigation pitfalls, optimize organizer flexibility in advocating at properties, and ensure compliance with organizational restrictions;
Support in the development of BASTA’s legal team infrastructure including referral processes, law firm compliance requirements, and staffing; and
All other duties assigned.

Required Qualifications

Juris Doctor (JD) and active license to practice law in Texas;
A minimum of 2 years of legal experience, with a focus on tenants rights and housing law preferred;
Experience in community lawyering, legal services or public interest law;
Commitment to social, economic, racial and language justice;
Knowledge of local and state housing laws and regulations;
Strong legal research, writing and advocacy skills;
Excellent communication skills;
Strong interpersonal and consensus-building skills and the ability to work effectively with a wide range of people, including team members, clients, opposing counsel, and property managers and owners;
Ability to problem solve and think strategically;
Ability to effectively multi-task, work well with others under pressure, and creatively adapt as needed;
Strong organizational skills;
Ability to work independently and as part of a team;
Ability to work occasional evenings and weekends; and
Vehicle and driver’s license.

Preferred Qualifications:

Proficiency in additional languages often spoken or used by tenants in Austin (ie., Spanish, Arabic, Vietnamese, Pashto, Burmese, ASL);
Experience with working in multilingual spaces;
Proficiency with Google Docs, Sheets and Slides or Microsoft equivalents;
Experience designing accessible and engaging print materials with knowledge of Canva a plus; and
Familiarity with LegalServer, Slack, Miro, Hustle, and Toggl.

Compensation:

Salary $61,000-$83,000 depending on experience. Full medical and dental benefits are provided to employees. Paid vacation, sick days, and holidays.

To Apply:

Email a cover letter and resume to jobs@bastaaustin.org with the subject line “BASTA Staff Attorney Application.”