IHM News - Winter 2015/16

Volume 62, Winter 2015/2016

Canadian Publications Mail Agreement # 40739009

ENHANCING THE KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS OF PROPERTY MANAGEMENT PROFESSIONALS

They’re Here! ...

Managing Millennials Inside President’s Message . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Welcome to Our New Members . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Syrian Refugees’ Impact on Ontario Housing will be Minimal: Experts . 3

IHM Certificate in Property Management & Course Completions .13

West Harbour Land Sale Could Fund Hamilton’s Affordable Housing . . 4

2016 Annual Educational Conference Program at a Glance . . . . . . 14

They’re Here! Managing Millennials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Affordable Housing: If Boom Means Bust . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Seven Steps Toward a National Housing Plan, Take Two: Lights, Camera, Action! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

2016 Annual Educational Conference Registration Form . . . . . . . . 16 2016 Annual In-Class Course Information & Registration Form . . 17 2015-2016 Board of Directors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

P r e s i d e n t ’s M e s s a g e

Greetings IHM Members, As I write this message the weather is remarkably warm for the time of year in southern Ontario and this has positives and negatives. I know many will enjoy the lack of freezing temperatures, and yet many others will be missing the opportunities to go skating, skiing, snowmobiling and many other winter activities.

From a property management perspective the lack of ice and snow has helped reduce costs for winter maintenance contracts that are based on hourly charges. Also, with our increasingly litigious society less snow and ice will usually translate into fewer liability claims due to slip and fall accidents. The weather, typically a prevalent subject in Canada, certainly is different and this might serve to remind us that things change.

The philosopher Heraclitus of Ephesus (530-470 BC) talked about change, a universal state of flux where everything is shifting, that nature itself is change. He talked about how someone can never step into the same river twice, the river changes constantly and so does the person taking the steps. Things are changing around us all the time, it is part of life. Our outlook, how we deal with that change, choose to embrace change, or even seek out change, that behavioural option is up to us.

IHM is changing too. Some very dedicated members of the board are working to expand and improve our education program and increase IHM’s efforts to provide members and nonmembers with more opportunities for property management training. Members of the IHM board and sub-committees are working hard to ensure your professional association grows and adapts to changes in the future.

In 2016 IHM will celebrate 40 years of providing property management training and professional accreditation. One thing I won’t change from many of my recent messages is my request for your help. On behalf of the board, we invite all accredited members to consider assisting with the education program. You have an opportunity to change and grow by contacting IHM staff to see how you can help deliver the IHM education program. We invite candidate members to help out as well, we are always looking for news stories and articles to share with membership and board sub-committees would certainly welcome your input and involvement.

I hope all of you are able to enjoy the weather, no matter how it changes over the coming months, and I hope to see all of you again at our April 2016 conference.

All the very best to you and yours during the holiday season and in 2016.

Kevin O’Hara, MPA, FIHM, CMM III IHM President

1976

IHM News • Winter 2015/2016

Celebrating 40 Years!

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Feature

Syrian Refugees’ Impact on Ontario Housing will be Minimal: Experts

By Nicholas Keung Immigration Reporter, The Star

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en thousand people may sound like a lot of bodies to house, but by the time the Syrian refugees settle in permanent housing in Ontario, no one will even notice, say housing and settlement experts.

With 10,000 of the 25,000 Syrians destined for the province, University of Toronto urban planning professor David Hulchanski said roughly 2,500 housing units would be required considering most refugees will come as families and live under one roof.

“Ontario has about 1.3 million rental housing units. The refugees will be in temporary housing (in military bases), and we’ll have housing counsellors to help them,” said Hulchanski, who specializes in housing, neighbourhood and community planning issues.

“Trying to find 2,000 additional units in Greater Toronto is nothing. They won’t even be noticeable.”

Many Canadians may be struggling to find affordable housing — and the social housing waiting list is long, but it doesn’t mean the arriving refugees cannot be accommodated in Canada’s housing market where the vacancy rate has increased to 3.3 per cent from 2.8 per cent a year ago.

In Toronto alone, there are some 500,000 rental units on top of the 140,000 units in the 905 regions — making up almost 30 per cent of the 1.3 million rental stock in Ontario, Hulchanski said.

IHM News • Winter 2015/2016

With 10,000 Syrians destined for the province, experts say only 2,500 housing units are actually needed because most will arrive as families.

“We have a vacancy rate of about 2 per cent. Housing may not be cheap, and it may be difficult for everybody to find a good quality place. But the impact will be small,” said Hulchanski.

Carl Nicholson of the Catholic Centre for Immigrants in Ottawa said his agency helped 740 refugees and immigrants secure housing last year. He is confident that the settlement sector will be able to find housing for the Syrians with the outpouring of public support.

“We’ve had lots of people calling us, offering their place to house the Syrians,” said Nicholson. “We have to work hard at it. It doesn’t come easy, but we have new untapped rental markets opening up. And this is totally doable.”

Debbie Douglas of the Ontario Council for Agencies Serving Immigrants said the province receives 100,000 of Canada’s 250,000 new immigrants each year — and their annual arrival is mostly negligible in communities.

Government assisted refugees receive financial support from Ottawa at par

with the local social assistance rate for the first year, which covers all the expenses from food to housing to transportation.

The Ontario government has slated $8.5 million to resettle Syrians over two years, including an initial cost to shelter new arrivals at the six refugee reception centres in Toronto, London, KitchenerWaterloo, Ottawa and Windsor.

Douglas said part of the funding could be used as rental supplements for the resettled refugees to help them transition to permanent housing.

“We need to provide the refugees a limited time access to the rental subsidies.

Municipalities are already administering the provincial-federal funding for these subsidies (for Canadians),” she said.

“We just need to grow the pie for the first year and offer them the extra bit of support. We have people opening up their basements. People can double up and have two families sharing one unit.

Even substandard housing in Canada would be better than what they have had in refugee camps.” ■

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Feature

West Harbour Land Sale Could Fund Hamilton’s Affordable Housing

By Teviah Moro, Hamilton Spectator

A

pair of city councillors have hatched a plan to direct sales proceeds from municipally-owned west harbour lands toward Hamilton’s starved affordable-housing stock. The properties, already earmarked for residential and commercial development, include parcels at piers 7 and 8.

Those parcels will be “developmentready” for 2018 and sold to private builders, Councillor Jason Farr said Tuesday. Farr wants a part of the sales revenue from the “coveted, valuable, waterfront properties” to be funneled into rehabilitating existing affordablehousing units and building new ones.

During Tuesday’s community emergency services meeting, staff were directed to report back with a parcel inventory, land values and investment strategy for housing and homelessness initiatives. Farr noted fellow Councillor Chad Collins and CityHousing have helped draft the funding blueprint.

Nearly 6,000 applicants on city’s housing wait list!

Over 20 years, the city expects those capital demands to eclipse $600 million, noted Gillian Hendry, director of housing services, praising the councillors’ initiative.

“We think it’s a really creative approach and we’re delighted to have a motion such as this because capital costs are huge,” Hendry said.

There’s no provincial or federal funding dedicated to social housing maintenance, she noted.

Proceeds from the potential sale of the Barton-Tiffany lands, which the city bought by borrowing from the Hamilton Future Fund, are not up for consideration.

from the fund for projects — including the failed West Harbour Stadium Plan — and has committed to paying that back.

The city has worked for years to turn barren industrial land on the waterfront into a rejuvenated lakeside community.

On Pier 8, which already includes Sarcoa restaurant, Williams Café and a skating rink, as many as 1,600 residential units alone are envisioned.

“We’re in the final stages of the planning process,” Collins said.

Teviah Moro is an editor and reporter at The Hamilton Spectator. Follow on Twitter: @TeviahMoro ■

The city has borrowed tens of millions

“We’re talking about a substantial sum of money,” Collins said. “We’re into the millions.”

He hopes those proceeds will at least “put a dent” in the city’s social housing challenges. The city faces a daunting social housing backlog with nearly 6,000 applicants on its wait list.

Also critical is the price tag attached to maintaining existing social housing stock and building more units to meet future needs.

IHM News • Winter 2015/2016

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Management Corner

They’re Here! Managing Millennials

By Anne Bermingham & Michael H. Howes 2WA Consulting, Inc.

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he Millennial demographic is now the largest generational work force group in Canada. And with Baby Boomers retiring in droves, it’s a sellers market for Millennials looking for careers. If employers don’t figure out how to motivate and manage them, they will lose out to those employers who have.

Do you have a group of employees between the ages of 20 and 35? Are you finding it difficult to understand how to get the best out of them? Read on.

First Ah-Ha! – Millennials Like Being Part of Groups Millennials are most comfortable working in groups and they value diverse opinions. In an IBM study of Millennial workers, more than half said they made better business decisions when there was a group of people providing a variety of input before the decision had to be made.

Key Takeaway: Millennial workers want to have opportunities to input to your decisions. Even when making their own decisions, they want to hear the opinions of others first.

You Need to Consider: • Value the importance of group input and avoid dictating decisions • Show the group how that input is being used • Treat Millennials as individuals by having one-on-one conversations so you are aware of what they are doing, what they want to do and where they want to go in the organi-

IHM News • Winter 2015/2016

zation - they value groups but want to be see as individuals too

Second Ah-Ha! – Millennials Want More Technology in the Workplace Millennial employees are not only adept at using technology; they prefer to use technology to get the work done efficiently. Yet, 60% of them prefer in-person collaboration, an apparent contradiction of the use of faceless, impersonal technology. They see technology delivering efficiency and given that they don’t want to work, work, work, it all makes sense.

Key Takeaway: Millennials will try and inject technology in every aspect of the organization, if they had the opportunity

— that is a double-edged sword.

You Need to Consider: • Embrace their love of technology and be open to improving business processes so that they too use more technology.

• Manage the Millennial desire to use technology everywhere and make sure there is an open, collaborative process for deciding where and when to introduce technological improvements - unless it helps the organization function, technology shouldn’t be embraced.

Third Ah-Ha! – Millennials Want to Develop Their Skills They are more concerned with learning skills than earning more money and they

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know feedback is the key to personal development.

should learn to be open to the fresh perspectives offered by younger employees.

Key Takeaway: You can’t get by with an annual performance appraisal. You need to provide informal feedback regularly (think weekly) to Millennials really, you should be providing feedback to everyone you work with.

2. Offer different working options like telecommuting and working offsite.

Focus on the results employees produce rather than on how they get it done. Use it to motivate.

You Need to Consider: • Revamp your performance appraisal system including mandatory quarterly performance conversations • Train yourself and your managers on performance management and feedback • Use the Feedback Formula 5 times a day to become proficient • Observe the Behaviour • State the Impact of that Behaviour • Make a Request to Continue or Change the Behaviour • Make sure each Millennial has a learning plan and a career goal

3. Accommodate different learning styles. Baby Boomers may favour more traditional training methods like Power Point presentations and classroom sessions, while younger workers may gravitate towards more interactive, technology-based forms of learning.

Finally, four strategies to help manage all the different generations in your workplace:

Need more advice on how to put these ideas into practice? Call us, we’ll buy the coffee.

1. Start a mentoring program that includes a strong element of crossgenerational interaction. Younger employees should learn to seek the experience and wisdom offered by senior employees. Older employees

Anne Bermingham - 905-719-1225 Michael H Howes - 905-517-6358

IHM News • Winter 2015/2016

4. Keep employees engaged. Provide regular educational and training opportunities as well as career advice to keep all workers interested in the company. Get the different generations talking to each other on how to work together.

2WA Consulting, Inc, www.2waconsulting.com info@2waconsulting.com ■

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Feature

Affordable Housing: If Boom Means Bust

By Steve Buist, The Hamilton Spectator

T

he small, semi-detached house at 108 Emerald Street North is as good an example as any to illustrate the booming real estate market in Hamilton’s inner city.

The one-and-a-half-storey house with two bedrooms and two bathrooms has been immaculately renovated outside and inside right down to the studs.

Maple cabinetry in the kitchen, hardwood floors and travertine tiles everywhere, and a brand new garage built out back.

“Not a stone has been left unturned,” said the owner who didn’t want to be named for privacy reasons. The asking price for this house, located between Wilson and Cannon streets in a part of the city that would have been charitably described as “challenged” just a few short years ago? $329,900.

At the time we spoke, the house had been on the market for less than two weeks and there had already been a flurry of interest. “Four people from Oakville alone,” the owner said.

He grew up in central Hamilton on a street that was just as rough as Emerald, so he knows the inner city well and he’s prepared for the inevitable question: Did you ever think you’d see the day when a house on Emerald North would be up for $329,900? “You can’t believe how many people have said that to me,” the owner said with a sigh.

The stats certainly support the percep-

IHM News • Winter 2015/2016

Construction waste bin on James Street North. Affordable housing piece for poverty project. Speculators and investors are betting on Hamilton’s hot real estate market. Who’s being left behind?

tion a boom is underway in Hamilton’s inner city. Figures from the Realtors Association of Hamilton-Burlington show that house prices averaged $235,000 in central Hamilton in August, a hike of 12 per cent from the previous August, while the number of sales in central Hamilton jumped 14 per cent.

In east Hamilton, house prices climbed 14 per cent over the same period, to an average of $252,500. It’s a perfect storm of circumstances that have all lined up in order: • The ongoing reclamation of Hamilton’s waterfront as a place for people and not just industry.

• Real estate prices that had reached rock bottom in the inner city coupled with the exorbitant prices seen elsewhere in the GTA.

• A new GO Transit station on James Street North and the prospect of full, all-day train service to Toronto.

• The promise of an east-west LRT line across the lower city.

And there are other signs as well.

You don’t have to drive far in any direction to witness the inner city’s renaissance. Construction waste bins seem to be sprouting like mushrooms in driveways and next to sidewalks throughout north Hamilton.

There are two of them just steps apart in front of houses on James Street North, another on Bay Street North not far away from the site where a six-unit condominium is being built, and two more Continued on page 8

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bins a couple of houses apart on a short stretch of Caroline Street North.

After years of stories bemoaning the decline and decay of Hamilton’s inner city, surely these are positive developments, right?

A mini construction boom is under way in north Hamilton neighbourhoods like this as owners renovate their properties to take advantage of the city’s soaring housing market.

“A couple of years ago the idea of gentrification being this kind of runaway train was fairly laughable.”

– Ryan McGreal, Editor, Raise the Hammer “Most of what’s happened is good — on balance,” said Richard Harris, a McMaster University professor who specializes in the study of urban residential environments and suburban development. “But that’s the key: on balance.

“There will be some displacement,” Harris added.

“You have to acknowledge there are some people who are going to lose out.”

A mini construction boom is under way in north Hamilton neighbourhoods like this as owners renovate their properties to take advantage of the city’s soaring housing market.

Truth be told, isn’t a booming real estate market in some of Hamilton’s more challenged neighbourhoods a tonic for the city’s collective psyche? Isn’t it kind of like our own version of Sally Field’s famously gushing Oscar acceptance speech: “They like us, they really like us.”?

“This is not a bad news story,” said Ryan McGreal, editor of the popular all-thingsHamilton website Raise the Hammer.

For more than a decade, McGreal’s site has chronicled the enthusiasm — and frustrations — of those who want to make Hamilton a more vibrant and attractive place to live and work.

“If you’re a city and one of your problems is property values are going up and affordability is a problem,” McGreal said, “and the other problem you have is people are fleeing your city and property values are collapsing, I’ll take the former problem over the latter every time.”

The beauty of a boom, it turns out, is in the eyes of the beholder.

IHM News • Winter 2015/2016

Harris is talking about the gentrification of Hamilton, the process by which older, rundown neighbourhoods are rebuilt, rejuvenated and repopulated with people of higher incomes.

“And it’s happening. For sure,” added Terry Cooke, president and CEO of the Hamilton Community Foundation, which in recent years has increasingly focused its considerable charitable weight on addressing the city’s social issues.

“There are people attracted here by quality of life and relative low cost who have skills to compete globally,” said Cooke.

“I see an emerging and younger entrepreneurial culture and often driven by people who have chosen to come here for lifestyle reasons.”

But for each action — the arrival of more affluent people — there is an equal and opposite reaction: the displacement of lower-income people and those who are most vulnerable.

Duplexes and triplexes, for example, get converted back to single-family homes, reducing the supply of affordable housing. Renovated properties lead to higher

rents for those units still left on the market. An influx of more affluent people attracts more of the same.

The uncomfortable question left hanging: Where do the displaced people go?

Do they simply become disadvantaged refugees pushed on to some other community?

“A couple of years ago the idea of gentrification being this kind of runaway train was fairly laughable,” said McGreal.

“And yet in just the past year, the supply of rental vacancies in Hamilton has dropped by more than half.

“It’s amazing how quickly the situation has changed, just in the last year or two,” he added. “The landscape is shifting under our feet and I think we have to be really cognizant of how that’s happening.”

Hamilton is clearly showing the evidence of gentrification and the chain reaction that flows from a hot real estate market. Nearly 2,000 rental units have been converted into condominium units in Hamilton, although not all of those converted units are owner occupied.

The vacancy rate in Hamilton’s primary rental market has dropped sharply since April 2014, from 4.5 per cent to about 1.8 per cent. Not surprisingly, a shrinking pool of rental units has also led to higher rents. This year, Hamilton has seen the highest jump in rental prices of any major city in Ontario.

And there’s more to come.

In early September, an Ottawa-based real estate investment trust announced it had agreed to pay $51 million to purchase four highrise apartment buildings with a combined 618 units in the Continued on page 9

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affordable housing in Hamilton is increasing the gap between the haves and the have nots.

Riverdale neighbourhood east of Centennial Parkway.

In announcing the purchase, the trust’s CEO pointedly stated there would be a major “repositioning” of the buildings to attract tenants prepared to pay higher rents. He also noted the buildings were ideally situated to take advantage of the planned GO train extension to Centennial Parkway and the proposed LRT line that will end at the Queenston traffic circle.

“I think gentrification is not the problem,” said McGreal.

“Ultimately, the problem is a lack of affordable housing at the policy level.

Owners of homes like these in Ancaster are likely to be much better off than people living in rental units. A lack of affordable housing in Hamilton is increasing the gap between the haves and the have nots.

“The notion that large-scale investors would fix up highrise apartment buildings is a sign that things are changing,” said Harris. But Harris said he’s also worried by a longer-term trend pointing to the growing polarization between homeowners and renters.

Back in the 1960s and ‘70s, the average income of a homeowning household

IHM News • Winter 2015/2016

was 50 per cent greater than a renting household. Now, the income of the average homeowning household is 100 per cent greater than the average renting household.

Owners of homes like these in Ancaster are likely to be much better off than people living in rental units. A lack of

“Affordable housing policy shouldn’t be that you have a stock of hundred-year-old rundown houses that have all been converted into fourplexes,” he added. “That’s not a good way to deal with the issue of housing affordability.”

Joe-Anne Priel agrees. She’s the general manager of emergency and community services for the city and she’s worried that the booming real estate market is simply creating more distance between the haves and the have-nots.

Continued on page 10

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“We can’t just say ‘Yay’ about people coming here and creating a boom without taking care of the other side of the teeter-totter,” said Priel. “We’ve got to make sure there’s some balance.”

For her, affordable housing has become the key issue. The city, she adds, has become “ripe for speculation.”

“You can see it,” Priel said. “Landlords asking people to move out, giving them bonuses, getting tenants out of those apartments, turning them over and then renting them for more money.

“Yes, obviously, there is some benefit in people coming here and creating jobs and there is prosperity happening absolutely.

But you then have to have intentional investments to make sure there’s some

Renovations expand, subtle promotion of an area begins quietly, real estate agents begin taking notice and small-scale speculators begin expressing interest. Vacant houses become a source of interest for purchase and renovation.

Stage 3 Media attention begins to be drawn to the neighbourhood and improvements become noticeable.

House prices escalate and displacement of people increases as landlords take advantage of higher potential rents. Tensions begin to increase between longtime residents and new arrivals.

Stage 4 The influx of higher-income residents increases. House and rent prices continue to increase. New commercial enterprises spring up to cater to the changing market. To satisfy increasing demand for housing, non-residential buildings may be converted into condominium or rental units. Displacement continues and gentrification begins to spill into other neighbourhoods.

“I think that’s a great question.

Two affordable housing projects completed in the past four years have added just over 200 units to the city’s stock of apartments. bourhood, a lot of pushback and that’s part of the success story,” said Gillian Hendry, director of the city’s housing services division. “Now they are very welcome in the neighbourhood and considered to be good neighbours.”

Stage 1

Stage 2

“At the end of the day, who wins here?”

Priel asked. “Who?

Some Signs of Success

The Stages of Gentrification A small group of “pioneers” in a neighbourhood renovate (or purchase and renovate) properties for their own use. At this stage, there is little displacement of people from the neighbourhood.

social justice in our community, some equality.

Good Shepherd Square King Street West, between Pearl and Ray streets, opened in 2012 with a complex of three buildings.

Good Shepherd Square is a central location for Good Shepherd Women’s Services and two affordable housing buildings for seniors and families, on King Street between Ray and Pearl streets in downtown Hamilton. Scott Gardner, The Hamilton Spectator One building contains 84 one-bedroom apartments for seniors and one building contains 72 units of two- and three-bedroom units for families. Rents are set at less than 80 per cent of market prices.

A third building contains 34 units for women and children escaping domestic violence or in need of emergency shelter.

Total construction cost was nearly $42 million, with $10.5 million provided through the joint Canada-Ontario Affordable Housing Program and $6.4 million from the city, made up mostly from property tax savings.

Dr. John M. Perkins Centre Main Street East, near Kenilworth Avenue, opened in the fall of 2011.

The building contains 46 units and a community meeting space and is intended for singles, primarily those with a history of mental health issues. A strong partnership has also been developed with McMaster University’s School of Nursing and the housing is considered to include light support for the residents.

Total construction cost was $7.1 million, with $5.2 million provided through COAHP and just over $1 million from the city.

Rents at the Perkins Centre are also set at less than 80 per cent of market prices.

Both Good Shepherd Square and the Perkins Centre are fully occupied with waiting lists. ■

“There was a lot of concern in the neigh-

IHM News • Winter 2015/2016

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Feature

Seven Steps Toward a National Housing Plan, Take Two: Lights, Camera, Action!

By Cathy Crowe, Rabble.ca

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oday, the hotspots around homelessness are atrocious: growing wait lists for affordable housing, increased numbers of people who are homeless, shelter overcrowding, people forced to live outdoors, illness and death. A national housing strategy is the primary cure.

Using a film analogy let me tell you the “Take One!” story of housing in Canada.

When Canadian soldiers returned from the Second World War, they confronted a housing shortage. In 1945, the federal government declared Toronto an emergency shelter area, forbidding people from moving there unless they were starting a job deemed essential.

Toronto mayor Robert Saunders even put an ad in the newspaper that warned: “Acute Housing Shortage in Toronto -do not come.” It was such a desperate situation that the veterans, who believed they had a right to housing, took to the streets. They protested, they held picket signs, they demonstrated, and they actually took over empty buildings like the Hotel Vancouver and the Kildare barracks in Ottawa and squatted in them.

That’s what I call Housing! Lights, Camera, Action. Take one! because it should be made into a movie. We need to know our history!

This national campaign led to empty military buildings being freed up for housing; it led to the federal agency Wartime Housing Ltd. that built 19,000 temporary rental homes over four years.

It led to the creation of the Central Mortgage and Housing Corporation, now the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), which came to be our national housing program.

hostel. It became emergency shelter for 1200 families over the next two years.

The resulting wartime housing, co-op housing, supportive housing, city public housing are evident all across Canada.

Continued on page 12

Franklyn Hanratty, the leader of the Ottawa protest, said, “scores of Ottawa families are living under intolerable conditions.” I’m told from an interview with Mr. Hanratty’s family that he didn’t consider himself an activist. But I do -- he did direct action. A lot of it.

In 1946, veterans threw up a picket line around the old Hotel Vancouver. Their objective was to have it turned into a

IHM News • Winter 2015/2016

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Our national housing program built 650,000 units of affordable housing, housing 2 million Canadians until it was quietly killed in 1993.

Now it’s time for Take two!

Today, with a new federal government we have a chance to win a new national housing program. Here are seven steps to make it happen.

1. Identify the target and hold them accountable.

It’s been extraordinarily difficult to learn which federal cabinet minister will be charged with the housing portfolio. We now know it is more than one.

Ministers Bill Morneau (Finance), Amarjeet Sohi (Infrastructure and Communities), Jean-Yves Duclos (Families, Children and Social Development), Carolyn Bennett (Indigenous and Northern Affairs) all have housing in their mandate letters.

Others, like Catherine McKenna (Environment and Climate Change) and Adam Vaughan are already addressing housing in their speeches.

The Liberals promised $1.45 billion a year from 2016-19 for social infrastructure, which will include housing. Let’s make sure it happens but also demand more. Because we’ll need it.

2. Call homelessness what it is.

In 1998 we declared homelessness a national disaster. It still is. Tim Richter, CEO of the Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness, agrees. He recently wrote in the Toronto Star: “Homelessness caused by natural disaster is swift, violent and doesn’t discriminate. Homelessness caused by poverty, policy and disability is also often violent but unfolds one family or individual at a time like a drip feed of misery and happens mostly to those on the margins of society. One is an act of god. The other is manmade.”

He argues that if we have the financial means to deal with something like the Alberta floods (cost $6 billion) then the means to resolve homelessness is also

IHM News • Winter 2015/2016

6. Keep up the actions for wins.

within our reach.

3. Shine the spotlight on the problem in your community.

What do we expect after a natural disaster? Leaders tour the disaster; ensure disaster relief funds for the immediate emergency and then re-housing efforts.

Demand the same for this man-made disaster.

4. Ensure housing is treated as a human right.

Leilani Farha, the United Nations Rapporteur on Adequate Housing, argues that a national housing strategy should be based on international human rights. She says that at the heart of a human rights approach is the idea that you examine systemic causes of housing disadvantage and homelessness. You look at the structures within society that are causing disadvantage, not simply the individual causes and pathologies. Every policy and fiscal decision is done through a human rights lens and places responsibility on the state to ensure the right is met.

So, F35s or social housing? Corporate tax breaks or increases to social assistance rates?

5. Join, support or start a local housing advocacy group and ensure it is part of a national network such as the housing4all.ca group.

You know the drill: marches, rallies, press conferences, disaster tours, letterwriting, op-eds, petitions, film, social media, etc.

7. Support the emergency shelter efforts for Syrian Refugees.

There is a growing inventory of facilities (hospitals, empty school, military sites) that will be used for emergency shelter.

Refugees will transition into more permanent housing. Advocate for your community to hold onto those properties and ensure they are transformed into social housing.

We’ve done it in the past. We can do it again.

Cathy Crowe is a street nurse, author and filmmaker who works nationally and locally on health and social justice issues. She has fostered numerous coalitions and advocacy initiatives that have achieved significant public policy victories. In 1998 she co-founded the Toronto Disaster Relief Committee which issued the 1998 homelessness State of Emergency Declaration that declared homelessness a national disaster and resulted in a new federal program to respond to homelessness.

Her work is the subject of a moving documentary titled Street Nurse, directed by Shelley Saywell.

Cathy’s website is www.cathycrowe.ca. Follow her on Twitter @cathyacrowe. ■

You Know You’re a Property Manager When…

• you ensure health and safety are met at all times; • you check the fire extinguisher tag in every building you enter; • you check your bed for bed bugs before you bring your luggage into the hotel room.

We’re always looking for more of these comments. Send to the Newsletter Committee at ihm@associationconcepts.com

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Membership

Congratulations to IHM’s New Accredited Members Therese Baduria, AIHM Diana Hogan, AIHM u u u

Congratulations to IHM’s New Corporate Members City of St. Thomas Region of Halton u u u

Education

IHM Certificates in Property Management Property & Building Administration Allister Andrews Kaye Banfield Robert Grace Pamela Kartasinski Dragan Krstik Charlaine Lamarre Wendy Lockhart Dawn McBride Kelly Morphew

Congratulations to IHM’s New Affiliate Member

Strategic and Financial Planning for Property Managers

Dawn McBride

Consuelo Bonilla Matthew Rosenberg

u u u

Congratulations to IHM’s New Candidate Members Chimere Appleton Angelo Cappucci Ramzi Dahcha Thomas Fortier Karin Gerreman Felice Guida Salam Kawadri Victor Pascoal Andy Rees Almir Suman Wendy Swoffer Morgan Yirka Hao Zeng

Building Maintenance for Property Managers David Brydges Gerry Butineau Yen Nguyen

Human Relations for Property Managers Shelly Creelman Connie Leslie Tammy Marquis

Congratulations to IHM’s Program Completion Students Kelly Jackson

Matthew Rosenberg

HERE’S HOW YOU CAN HELP! Participate on the various committees Help with the Annual Educational Conference Submit relevant articles for the IHM quarterly newsletter

Join the Institute of Housing Management on

Facebook and LinkedIn Visit our website at: ihmcanada.net to gain access IHM News • Winter 2015/2016

Consider becoming a proctor for exams (FIHM/AIHM Members only) Mentor a Candidate member (FIHM/AIHM Members only) Become an Instructor (FIHM/AIHM Members only) Contact the IHM office for more information on how you can help.

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PRELIMINARY PROGRAM AT A GLANCE Wednesday, April 13th Pre-Conference Workshop (optional) - Leadership and Management Development Opening Luncheon - To be confirmed CONCURRENT EDUCATION TRACKS Building Maintenance

Building Management & Administration I

Hoarding - Are You Putting Your Staff at Risk?

I

Landscaping Best Practices

I

Alzheimers and the Challenges it Presents

I

The Building Envelope - What does it do?

Building Maintenance Presentation & Inspection I

Property Standards Matter!

Meet & Greet Reception A Chance to Get Reacquainted

Thursday, April 14th Breakfast Speaker - John Blackburn, CRU, AIHM, PLE, Communications and Broadcast Productions Inc. “Building For The Generations – Today’s 55-Plus Lifestyle” Trade Show & Awards Luncheon CONCURRENT EDUCATION TRACKS Building Maintenance

Building Management & Administration I I I I

Eviction Preventions From A Legal Perspective Violence in the Workplace TRAFFIC - Managing Communication Flow Occupational Health & Safety Act - What are Your Responsibilities?

I I I I

Building Security Do’s & Don’ts Radon in Properties – Managing Healthy Properties Elevators - Understanding The Ups and Downs Understanding and Tracking your BCA

Annual General Meeting Annual Dinner & Entertainment Featuring two back to back Comedians Friday, April 15th Breakfast & Keynote Speaker - Rosita Hall, B.S.W., Professional Speaker and Coach “You’ve Got the Power To Transform Your Life”

The IHM Annual Educational Conference – Bringing Knowledge to the Property Management Profession.

IHM News • Winter 2015/2016

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Annual Education Conference • April 13-15th, 2016 • Sheraton Hotels & Resort, Richmond Hill, Ontario

Register for the Full Conference and receive your fortune cookie with a secret message inside. The lucky winner will receive a voucher in the value of $2,000 to be used towards a destination of your choice!

Draw will be held on Friday, April 15th, 2016 at the Closing Breakfast. Yo u must be in attendance to win.

Additional cookies can be purchased prior to, or during, the Conference up until Thursday, April 14th.

IHM News • Winter 2015/2016

e! essag et M r c e ur S Yo

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Register for the Full Conference for a chance to win a Voucher va lued at $2,000 towards a destina tion of your choice!

REGISTRATION FORM Name Company Mailing Address City

Prov.

Phone

Postal Code

Fax

Email

Pre-Conference Workshop (Separate Registration Required) | | Wednesday, April 13th - Leadership & Management Development Full Conference Registrations

Regular Fee $150.00

|

(includes: keynote speaker(s), concurrent sessions, breakfast, lunch, refreshment breaks, tradeshow and banquet on Thursday night)

Total | $

Early Bird Fee

Regular Fee

On or Before March 6, 2016

After March 6, 2016

| Total

|

| Member(s)

|

$450.00

|

$500.00

| $

|

|

| Non-Members(s)

|

$525.00

|

$575.00

| $

|

| $ | $

|

| $ | $

|

| $ | $

|

One-Day Registrations (includes breakfast, lunch, refreshment breaks, meet & greet on Wednesday; breakfast, lunch, refreshment breaks, tradeshow and banquet on Thursday) | | Member(s) - Wednesday, April 13th (includes Meet & Greet) | | $200.00 $250.00 |

| Member(s) - Thursday, April 14th (includes Banquet) | Member(s) - Friday, April 15th (includes Breakfast) | Non-Member(s) - Wednesday, April 13th (includes Meet & Greet)

|

$250.00

|

$300.00

|

$100.00

|

$125.00

|

$275.00

|

$325.00

| Non-Member(s) - Thursday, April 14th (includes Banquet) | Non-Member(s) - Friday, April 15th (includes Breakfast)

|

$350.00

|

$400.00

|

$150.00

|

$175.00

Additional Event Ticket | | Thursday, April 14th - Annual Dinner & Entertainment

|

$100.00

|

|

$15.00

| | | |

| Additional Contest Cookie

Hotel Accommodation Sheraton Hotel & Resort 600 Hwy-7 East, Richmond Hill, Ontario For reservations call 905-881-2121 or Toll-Free 1-800-668-0101 Be sure to mention you are attending the IHM Conference or Block Code: IHC Special Rate: $139.00 single/double Reservations must be made by April 4th, 2016 to guarantee rate.

Availability subject to change at any time.

Please return this completed form with registration fees to: Institute of Housing Management 2800 14th Avenue, Suite 210 Markham, Ontario L3R 0E4 Phone: (416) 493-7382 | TF: 1-866-212-4377 Fax: (416) 491-1670 E-mail: ihm@associationconcepts.ca OR REGISTER ONLINE AT: www.ihmcanada.net

2016 Cancellation Policy: Cancellation with full refund will be provided up until February 1st, 2016. A $75.00+HST fee will apply for any cancellation requests up until March 30th, 2016. No refunds will be issued after April 1st, 2016.

GROUP RATES ARE AVAILABLE – Purchase 5 full conference registrations and receive the 6th for free.

| | |

| $ | $

|

Subtotal

$

|

|

Plus 13% HST

$

|

|

TOTAL

$

|

Method of Payment: Make cheque payable to IHM or charge to: ❍ MasterCard Name as it appears on card (Please Print Ful Name)

HST# 13021 6567 RT0001

|

Card Number

|

Exp. Date

|

Signature

|

Cheque:

❍ Visa ❍ American Express

|

|

| |

|

|

|

|

|

|

|

|

|

|

|

|

|

|

|

❍ Company ❍ Personal

| Payment must be received with your registration.

Please sign below if you DO NOT wish to have your contact information, as provided above, included in the on-site program. Full name, address, phone, fax and email will be printed in a roster format to be presented to all registered delegates attending the IHM annual conference to be held April 13-15, 2016.

This information will not be used for any other purpose by the IHM. Signature

IHM News • Winter 2015/2016

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SIGN UP TODAY FOR IHM'S ANNUAL IN-CLASS COURSE!

Tenancy Law in Ontario Monday, April 11th to Friday, April 15th, 2016

N EW!

Recently appr ov as a Core Cou ed rse

IHM is pleased to announce that the Tenancy Law in Ontario Course (one of the five core courses within the Institute's Certificate In Property Management program) will be offered for the first time in an in-class format.

Registration Includes:

IHM students are encouraged to take advantage of this unique opportunity for an in-class learning environment outside of a community college.

Course manual, handouts, breakfast, lunch, coffee breaks, plus Conference Awards Luncheon on April 14th.

The course will be offered in a rigorous five day format during the IHM’s conference. This class will begin on Monday, April 11th to Friday, April 15th, 2016. It will be held at the Sheraton Hotels & Resort, Richmond Hill, Ontario.

The intent of this course is to introduce the student to the law of residential tenancies governing landlords and tenants in Ontario. The course is designed to give the student a firm understanding of the basic legal principles articulated in the legislation. It will also focus on the practice and procedures at the Landlord and Tenant Board.

A certificate of completion will be awarded to all attendees upon successful completion of the course. The final exam will be written onsite at the end of the course and students will be notified of their final mark within three weeks.

SPACE IS LIMITED - Last Day to Register is Monday, March 14th, 2016. No cancellation will be accepted after Monday, March 28th, 2016.

Note: Students will be required to read certain chapters from the course manual and complete the chapter reviews for those chosen chapters prior to the course, so strict adherence to published registration deadlines will be observed.

TO REGISTER, please complete the following or register online at www.ihmcanada.net Name:

❍ Member

❍ Non-Member

Organization:

Non-members who complete the course will receive a one-time complimentary Candidate Membership until December 31st, 2016.

For a list of benefits of membership with IHM please visit the website at www.ihmcanada.net

Sheraton Hotels & Resort Richmond Hill, Ontario 600 Hwy-7 East Richmond Hill, Ontario For reservations call 905-881-2121 or Toll-Free 1-800-668-0101 Be sure to mention you are attending the IHM Conference or Block Code: IHM Special Rate: $139.00 single/double

Address: City:

Prov:

Phone:

Postal Code:

Email:

Method of Payment

Registration Fees: Fee

Reservations must be made by April 4th, 2016 to guarantee rate.

Availability subject to change at any time.

HST

Total

Member

$700.00

$91.00 = $791.00

Non-Member

$800.00 $104.00 = $904.00

Total Due: $ HST # 13021 6567 RT0001

❍ Cheque

❍ Visa

Card Number:

❍ M/C

❍ Amex Exp:

/

Signature: Printed Name:

Institute of Housing Management, 2800 14th Avenue, Suite 210, Markham, Ontario L3R 0E4 Tel: (416) 493-7382 Ext 255 | Toll Free: (866) 212-4377 | Fax: (416) 491-1670 | email: ihm@associationconcepts.ca

IHM News • Winter 2015/2016

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2015-2016 Board of Directors EXECUTIVE

DIRECTORS

President Kevin O’Hara, MPA, FIHM, CMM III Region of Waterloo, Waterloo Region Housing c/o 2800 14th Avenue, Suite 210 Markham, ON L3R 0E4 Tel: 416-493-7382 Ext. 1218 Fax: 416-491-1670 Email: ihmpresidentkevin@gmail.com

Marketing/Membership Chair Kris Boyce, AIHM Greenwin Inc. 19 Lesmill Road, Toronto, Ontario, M3B 2T3 Tel: 416-322-4006 Fax: 416-544-4895 E-mail: kboyce@greenwin.ca

Communications Co-Chair Kathy Harris, AIHM, CMM III Project Manager Facilities Design & Development, Asset Management Regional Municipality of Halton 1151 Bronte Road, Oakville, ON L6M 3L1 Ph: 905-825-6000 Ext. 7507 Fax: 905-825-3879 Conference Co-Chair Deborah Parker, AIHM Girl Guides of Canada 50 Merton Street, Toronto, ON M4S 1A3 Tel: 416-487-5281 Ext. 209 Fax: 416-487-5570 Email: parkerd@girlguides.ca

Vice President & Education Committee Member Jim Mellor, AIHM 17199 Regional Road 50, Palgrave Ontario L7E 0K7 Tel: 519-996-6006 Email: jmellor5225@gmail.com

Conference Committee Member Anne-Marie Cheung, AIHM Housing York Inc. 1091 Gorham Street, Unit 104, Newmarket, ON L3Y 8X7 Tel: 905-898-1007 x 72701 Fax: 905-895-5724 E-mail: anne-marie.cheung@york.ca

Past President & Education Committee Member Deborah Filice, B.A., R.S.S.W., FIHM, CMM III Professor, Humber College Email: deborah.filice@humber.ca Email: filicedaf@cogeco.ca

Education Committee Member Ed Cipriani, AIHM, MAATO Region of Halton 1151 Bronto Road, Stoney Creek, ON Tel: 905-825-6000 Ext. 7355 Fax: 905-825-8274 Email: ecpm@skyline.net

CANDIDATE REPS Communications Co-Chair Francesca Filice, B.A., AIHM (C) Hamilton East Kiwanis Non-Profit Homes Inc. 281 Queenston Road, Hamilton, ON L8K 1G9 Tel: 905-545-4654 Ext. 233 Fax: 905-545-4884 Email: Francesca.Filice@Kiwanishomes.ca

Treasurer/Conference Co-Chair Lynn Alexander, AIHM Region of Durham Housing Services P.O.Box 623, Whitby, ON L1N 6A3 Tel: 905-666-6222 Fax: 905-666-6225 Email: Lynn.alexander@durham.ca

Education Chair Phil Eram, B.Sc., AIHM Precision Property Management Inc. 22 Goodmark Place, Suite 22, Toronto, ON M9W 6R2 Tel: 416-675-2223 Fax: 416-675-0170 Email: pgsd@cogeco.ca

Education Committee Member Lana Nwaokoro Community First Developments Inc. 2171 Avenue Rd., Suite 303, Toronto, ON M5M 4B4 Tel: 905-507-8939 Email: swetlana.nwaokoro@hotmail.com

IHM OFFICE: Carolyne Vigon, Operations Manager Laura Fairley, Education Coordinator

IHM News • Winter 2015/2016

2800 14th Avenue, Suite 210, Markham, Ontario L3R 0E4 Tel: (416) 493-7382 / 1-866-212-4377 • Fax: (416) 491-1670 Email: ihm@associationconcepts.ca

www.ihmcanada.net

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