How To Become An Occupancy Specialist: What It Is and Career Path

What is an occupancy specialist and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

An occupancy specialist is one who assists the applicants and the residents of housing programs with an aim to achieve maximum occupancy.

The responsibilities of this position include collecting required information for the organization such as income, assess the eligibility of occupants, maintaining occupants and potential occupant records, buying and selling different properties such as commercial, industrial, and real estate, and interacting and dealing with home-related persons, such as homeowner associations.

ScoreOccupancy SpecialistUS Average

Salary

3.5

Avg. Salary $44,632

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability Level

5.5

Growth Rate 8%

Growth Rate 0.3%

Diversity

5.7

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.51%

Asian 5.86%

Black or African American 11.09%

Hispanic or Latino 17.02%

Unknown 6.30%

White 59.22%

Gender

female 81.73%

male 18.27%

Age - 44

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 44

Stress Level

5.5

Stress level is manageable

7.1 - high

Complexity Level

8.0

Complexity Level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work Life Balance

6.0

Work Life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become an occupancy specialist

Explore occupancy specialist education requirements

Most common occupancy specialist degrees

Bachelor's

45.7 %

Associate

26.6 %

High School Diploma

12.6 %

Start to develop specific occupancy specialist skills

Skills	Percentages
Tax Credit	16.02%
Affordable Housing	13.07%
Yardi	8.98%
HUD	8.21%
Property Management	7.35%

Complete relevant occupancy specialist training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 6-12 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New occupancy specialists learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as an occupancy specialist based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real occupancy specialist resumes.

Research occupancy specialist duties and responsibilities

Manage properties and process daily operations through Yardi software system.
Manage complex USDA management information system records for portfolio properties.
Process application fees and determine eligibility of potential resident s qualifications for HUD and MSHDA rental assistance programs.
Show prospective clients available units, work closely with maintenance department on move outs and move ins need rehabilitation inspections.

Prepare your occupancy specialist resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your occupancy specialist resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on an occupancy specialist resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose From 10+ Customizable Occupancy Specialist Resume templates

Build a professional Occupancy Specialist resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your Occupancy Specialist resume.