8/7/2019 IHM Getting Residents to Think Green
1/2IHM News Winter 2008 3
F e a t u r e
Getting Residents to
Think GreenHow Property Managers and Owners
can Learn from Social Housing
By Joanne Taylor, Social Housing Services Corporation
As property managers, you know
that the energy used in yourbuildings can account for as
much as 40 percent of your overall oper-ating costs. As
buildings age and theircomponents begin to deteriorate, theybecome
less efficient. The combinationof aging buildings, built with now
obso-lete technology, and a lack of residentawareness has created
an atmosphere where buildings and their owners areleft increasingly
vulnerable to risingenergy prices.
Residents may not feel compelled toconserve, and this apparent
indifferencemay have its origins in any number ofareas. Some
residents do not see theneed to conserve if they are not payingthe
utility bills directly. Others are sim-ply unaware of the impact
that theirindividual energy use decisions haveupon their community
and the earth.Some want to do their part but just dontknow where to
begin or how they canbest contribute. In the end, however,the link
between resident buy-in andreal success in conservation
initiativesis evident to property owners and man-agers.
In 2005, Social Housing ServicesCorporation (SHSC) began to
investigatethe impact of rising utility costs and theopportunities
to assist the non-profit andco-operative housing sector in
respond-ing to the challenges. SHSC was able to
gather support from government agen-
cies and utility companies to establish apilot program in
conservation that hasnow become Green Light on a BetterEnvironment
(GLOBE). The pilot pro-gram helped housing providers navigatethe
world of energy conservation, cutthrough the red-tape, and get
fundingfor projects that ranged from relativelysimple to
multi-faceted and highly com-plex. Regardless of their level of
sophis-tication, each of the successful projectsdemonstrated a need
for resident educa-tion and cooperation.
A perfect example was in PropheticNon-Profit in Richmond Hill.
MarvDavis, the Property Manager forProphetic, knew the long-term
value ofimplementing conservation changes, butneeded help to
demonstrate this in a way he could present to his Board ofDirectors
and tenants. Mr. Davis hiredVirta Energy Management Services to doa
complete study of both building tow-ers at Prophetic and all of
their systems.Virta presented the study to the Board,and then
supervised every aspect of theretrofits that the Board chose: in
thiscase lighting retrofits, boiler replace-ment, smart
thermostats, variable fre-quency drives for the air make-up
sys-tems, and toilet replacements.
This was an ambitious project that com-prised a number of
different measures.Mr. Davis and Virta knew that the critical
element to the success of this process
was going to be resident behaviourBefore any of the work began,
Virta andMr. Davis organized a presentation forthe tenants to
explain what would behappening. The goal was to help ten-ants
understand the reasons for thechanges, the process, and get them
onside. They even introduced a childrenscolouring contest to
encourage enthusi-asm for the retrofitting project. And theydidnt
stop there.
The residents were kept informed as the
work went on with notices posted oneach floor, and flyers
delivered to theirdoors to schedule appointments for theirtoilet
and thermostat installationsTenants also got a 1-800 number to
callif they had questions.
The effort paid off tenants were verycooperative during the
process and con-tinue to be involved. Mr. Davis creditsthe
presentations from Virta and the factthat Virtas project manager
was on siteat least once a week and available toanswer tenant
questions. After all ofthe work was completed, Virta organ-ized a
party with refreshments for thetenants and prizes for the colouring
con-test winners.
While this is a great example of whatcan happen when residents
understandwhat is going on, what happens when
continued on page 5
8/7/2019 IHM Getting Residents to Think Green
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boost in community pride was also evi-dent: qualitative survey
responsesshowed that people now feel goodabout the fact that they
are involved intheir community and are more attract-ed to living in
their community. Otherpositive developments included a feel-ing of
empowerment by the residentsand a general physical improvement
of
the area. Even outside observers sawbenefits to the
community.
Lessons Learned
The introduction and development of acommunity garden is a
classic exampleof the CPTED strategy of placing a safeactivity in
an unsafe area. In VictoriaHills and other communities, such
asSelby-Dale in Saint Paul, Minnesota, thegarden transformed an
unsafe vacant lotinto a positive and safe community
space.
It is the challenge of planners, city offi-cials, and police
officers to recognizethe deleterious effect empty spaces haveon a
community, to guard against theirpresence and, where empty spaces
areunavoidable, to mitigate their impact.By encouraging the sale of
undevel-opable parcels of land to adjacentlandowners, empty spaces
can be elim-inated. Where they are unavoidable, cre-ative
partnerships and solutions must besought to make these spaces part
of,and not apart from, the communities inwhich they are found.
Endnote
The details about the case and quotes
cited are available in the Victoria Hills
Community Garden Project Program
Evaluation. 1994. John Howard Society
of Waterloo.
Published in Plan Canada Magazine,
January 1998; also published in Reader
on Canadian Planning: Linking practicewith theory, Nelson
2007
Constable Tom McKay has been attached
to the Peel Regional Police Crime
Prevention Services where he implements
CPTED concepts. Constable McKay is the
founding Chair of CPTED Ontario.
[email protected] I
the residents themselves take on a leadership role? SHSC and
GLOBE knew thagreat things could happen if residents where given
the right tools, education, andsupport to encourage conservation in
their own communities. That is why SHSCand GLOBE established the
Community Champion program.
To help change residents behaviour around energy use, housing
providers
nominated residents to be Community Champions. These volunteers
receivedtraining on how energy is used in their building and how it
affects the environ-ment. They also got guidance on how to develop
a conservation plan that willchange the behaviour of fellow
residents and how to influence the plans success
One such champion is Lynn Wood, of the Richview Residence for
Seniors inToronto. Since taking on the role Lynn has been writing
environment-themedarticles for her community monthly newsletter and
developing fun ways for res-idents to think about the environment,
such as a poster to inspire her fellow ten-ants to think green.
Lynn also made a presentation at the General Meeting in
September and creat-ed an energy use survey that she plans to send
out again in six months. The
results will provide interesting information on energy use
habits and Lynn willbe able to measure the success of some of her
education efforts.
Lynns future projects include a table set up in the common area,
where residentscan find and leave information such as newspaper and
magazine articles on con-servation and the environment. She plans
to have monthly meetings to discussone aspect of conservation each
time and would like to have an environmental-themed games day for
the seniors with green prizes from local merchants.
Lynn hopes that by showing her fellow residents easy ways to be
more green,such as switching from regular light bulbs to compact
fluorescents (CFLs) andlowering the thermostat a couple of degrees,
her building can be a conservationleader and an example to
others.
According to Colin Gage of the GLOBE Board of Directors, A peer
approachwhere residents show other residents the way to go green,
is the best way toshow how simple energy saving can be. Its
exciting to see residents feelingempowered and taking change into
their own hands.
SHSC believes that change can happen, but it takes time and
needs to involveeveryone property managers, building staff, housing
boards, and most of all res-idents themselves. By encouraging
residents to engage their own communitieslowering energy use and
thereby reducing utility bills and greenhouse gas emis-sions, we
can build healthier communities.
About SHSC
SHSC is a not-for-profit social enterprise that offers bulk
utility, insurance, invest-
ment, research and training services to Ontarios social housing
sector.
About GLOBE
GLOBE is a subsidiary of SHSC. It is a portal that supports
housing providers in
their conservation efforts by helping them navigate the world of
energy. GLOBE
is an integrated program that offers programs, energy audits,
support services, and
education on conservation to the housing sector. I
Getting Residents to Think Green Contd.
