Feature
Getting Residents to
Think Green
How Property Managers and Owners
can Learn from Social Housing
By Joanne Taylor, Social Housing Services Corporation
A s property managers, you know
that the energy used in your
buildings can account for as
much as 40 percent of your overall oper-
ating costs. As buildings age and their
components begin to deteriorate, they
become less efficient. The combination
of aging buildings, built with now obso-
lete technology, and a lack of resident
awareness has created an atmosphere
where buildings and their owners are
left increasingly vulnerable to rising
energy prices.
Residents may not feel compelled to
conserve, and this apparent indifference
may have its origins in any number of
areas. Some residents do not see the
need to conserve if they are not paying
the utility bills directly. Others are sim-
ply unaware of the impact that their
individual energy use decisions have
upon their community and the earth.
Some want to do their part but just don’t
know where to begin or how they can
best contribute. In the end, however,
the link between resident buy-in and
real success in conservation initiatives
is evident to property owners and man-
agers.
In 2005, Social Housing Services
Corporation (SHSC) began to investigate
the impact of rising utility costs and the
opportunities to assist the non-profit and
co-operative housing sector in respond-
ing to the challenges. SHSC was able to
IHM News • Winter 2008
gather support from government agen-
cies and utility companies to establish a
pilot program in conservation that has
now become Green Light on a Better
Environment (GLOBE). The pilot pro-
gram helped housing providers navigate
the world of energy conservation, cut
through the red-tape, and get funding
for projects that ranged from relatively
simple to multi-faceted and highly com-
plex. Regardless of their level of sophis-
tication, each of the successful projects
demonstrated a need for resident educa-
tion and cooperation.
A perfect example was in Prophetic
Non-Profit in Richmond Hill. Marv
Davis, the Property Manager for
Prophetic, knew the long-term value of
implementing conservation changes, but
needed help to demonstrate this in a
way he could present to his Board of
Directors and tenants. Mr. Davis hired
Virta Energy Management Services to do
a 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 the
retrofits that the Board chose: in this
case 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 behaviour.
Before any of the work began, Virta and
Mr. Davis organized a presentation for
the tenants to explain what would be
happening. The goal was to help ten-
ants understand the reasons for the
changes, the process, and get them on
side. They even introduced a children’s
colouring contest to encourage enthusi-
asm for the retrofitting project. And they
didn’t stop there.
The residents were kept informed as the
work went on with notices posted on
each floor, and flyers delivered to their
doors to schedule appointments for their
toilet and thermostat installations.
Tenants also got a 1-800 number to call
if they had questions.
The effort paid off – tenants were very
cooperative during the process and con-
tinue to be involved. Mr. Davis credits
the presentations from Virta and the fact
that Virta’s project manager was on site
at least once a week and available to
answer tenant questions. After all of
the work was completed, Virta organ-
ized a party with refreshments for the
tenants and prizes for the colouring con-
test winners.
While this is a great example of what
can happen when residents understand
what is going on, what happens when
continued on page 5
3
boost in community pride was also evi-
dent: qualitative survey responses
showed that people now feel “good
about the fact that they are involved in
their community” and are “more attract-
ed to living in their community”. Other
positive developments included a feel-
ing of empowerment by the residents
and a general physical improvement of
the area. Even outside observers saw
benefits to the community.
Lessons Learned
The introduction and development of a
community garden is a classic example
of the CPTED strategy of placing a safe
activity in an unsafe area. In Victoria
Hills and other communities, such as
Selby-Dale in Saint Paul, Minnesota, the
garden transformed an unsafe vacant lot
into a positive and safe community
space.
It is the challenge of planners, city offi-
cials, and police officers to recognize
the deleterious effect empty spaces have
on a community, to guard against their
presence and, where empty spaces are
unavoidable, to mitigate their impact.
By encouraging the sale of undevel-
opable parcels of land to adjacent
landowners, empty spaces can be elim-
inated. Where they are unavoidable, cre-
ative partnerships and solutions must be
sought to make these spaces part of,
and not apart from, the communities in
which 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 practice
with 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.
Thomas.McKay@peelpolice.ca ■
IHM News • Winter 2008
Getting Residents to Think Green Cont’d.
the residents themselves take on a leadership role? SHSC and GLOBE knew that
great things could happen if residents where given the right tools, education, and
support to encourage conservation in their own communities. That is why SHSC
and GLOBE established the Community Champion program.
To help change residents’ behaviour around energy use, housing providers
nominated residents to be Community Champions. These volunteers received
training 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 will
change the behaviour of fellow residents and how to influence the plan’s success.
One such champion is Lynn Wood, of the Richview Residence for Seniors in
Toronto. Since taking on the role Lynn has been writing environment-themed
articles 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 will
be able to measure the success of some of her education efforts.
Lynn’s future projects include a table set up in the common area, where residents
can find and leave information such as newspaper and magazine articles on con-
servation and the environment. She plans to have monthly meetings to discuss
one 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) and
lowering the thermostat a couple of degrees, her building can be a conservation
leader and an example to others.
According to Colin Gage of the GLOBE Board of Directors, “A peer approach,
where residents show other residents the way to go green, is the best way to
show how simple energy saving can be. It’s exciting to see residents feeling
empowered and taking change into their own hands.”
SHSC believes that change can happen, but it takes time and needs to involve
everyone – property managers, building staff, housing boards, and most of all res-
idents themselves. By encouraging residents to engage their own communities,
lowering 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 Ontario’s 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. ■
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