When one thinks about big sustainability impacts, agriculture, energy production and other brawny industries often come to mind. But the manufacture, transport and disposal of t-shirts, pajamas, blouses and other garments create a sizeable footprint too. In fact, garment production and transportation account for up to 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions, more than the aviation and shipping sectors combined. Growing and dyeing clothing material consumes 93 billion metric tons of clean water globally each year, about half of what Americans drink annually. Scientists estimate that 35% of the microplastics in the world’s oceans, which can take hundreds of years to decompose, can be traced to textiles. Three-quarters of shirts and shoes end up burned or buried in landfills. Less than 1% of clothing is recycled into new garments and over 25% of returned items end up being thrown out. “Because it is hard to make a better performing or more efficient blouse, handbag, or pair of socks, to motivate consumption, the industry pushes change. Not better — just different, cheaper, or faster,” said Kenneth P. Pucker, former COO of footwear manufacturer Timberland, writing in Harvard Business Review in January. ‘The biggest issue’ for the industry Statistics like these are why Judith Magyar, a brand contributor to Forbes, describes sustainability as “arguably the biggest issue confronting fashion brands right now.” The industry, she says, “is waking up to the fact that decreasing its environmental impact will pay big dividends to both its constituent companies as well as society at large.” Rising environmental, social and governance scrutiny is one reason for this growing awareness. “Younger consumers value transparency, honesty and authenticity. Companies that are upfront with their products — everything from where and how they are manufactured to the materials used and the environmental impact — may...

From staffing to compliance to technology, there’s no shortage of pressing topics circling the senior living industry. And the latest McKnight’s Power Panel — Pandemic Year III: Keys to Success — gathered experts to discuss it all. The online roundtable prompted panelists to debate today’s issues and offer solutions for the year ahead. And to help a larger audience access the insights, McKnight’s put together a fresh ebook that presents the biggest takeaways from their conversations. That ebook is available now. Whether you attended the roundtable or not, the ebook is worth a read. See below for a quick highlight of what you’ll find: New Mcknight’s Power Panel ebook With panelists from different verticals in long-term care, the McKnight’s Power Panel was full of varying perspectives. How will operating conditions continue to shift with the pandemic? How is the “new normal” changing again for providers? These types of questions received a range of answers throughout the roundtable, and lucky for you, they’re recapped in the ebook. Featuring insights from Yardi expert David Bellew, read the ebook to learn: Technology’s role in the industry todayPredictions for a post-pandemic landscapeStrategies for the futureAnd more About panelist David Bellew David Bellew is an accomplished leader in the healthcare industry. Currently serving as the Director of Client Services here on the Yardi senior living team, David has over 20 years of experience implementing enterprise software systems. Through years of dedication, he has become highly skilled in requirements analysis, as well as managing implementations for ERP and clinical systems. If you have questions for team Yardi about our solutions in senior living, we encourage you to reach out to us. Download the resource Yardi is pleased to sponsor events like the McKnight’s Power Panel that spark insightful conversations in...

Food insecurity can often go unnoticed. The imperceptible public health issue is the result of multiple systemic factors as well as unprecedented situations, such as COVID-19 job losses. In Ontario, Daily Bread Food Bank works to alleviate hunger through emergency aid and long-term sustainable change. The growing need for meal support in Toronto In 2021, Daily Bread witnessed a 61% increase in new clients. Of the new clients, about 44% did not eat for a whole day almost every month and 58% of existing clients had similar experiences. More than 30% of clients report going hungry at least once a week. The causes of food insecurity vary, but there are a few common threads: 2 in 5 food bank clients seek services because their income is too low. Recent studies reveal that 1 in 5 clients lost their job in the past year and 20% report that their employment will not last more than a year. The affordability crisis also plays a role in food insecurity. About 65% of clients live in private market rentals, not subsidized housing. The median monthly income for clients is $1,106 and they’re spending 68% of their income on housing. After paying rent and utilities, clients face an average of $9.17 per person for transportation, clothing, day-care, medications, and food. There simply isn’t enough money to go around for working families. The food budget is usually to first to get cut and 51% of clients forgo food to pay for other necessities. Of respondents, 80% are at high risk of homelessness. Daily Bread Food Bank promotes immediate and long term solutions In December 2021, visits to food banks increased by 47% compared to this point last year. To manage the need, Daily Bread Food Bank collaborates with 118 member...

Last fall, Zach Scott, vice president of programming for Yardi Canada, provided our readers with an illuminative look at the role of his engineering team on Yardi’s most cutting edge product offerings. In the research & development realm, progress moves fast, so recently we brought Scott back for an update on project progress and current initiatives. Let’s kick it off with machine learning, which is now being practically applied to multiple Yardi products, with more to come in the near future. Zach, tell us about machine learning’s role in the Yardi Full Service PayScan experience? Scott: On this machine learning test, we have almost 200 clients live. So far this year, we have processed 1.3 million invoices. We went from 290,000 invoices per month in January, to 390,000 in February, to 450,000 in March. We’re anticipating growth to 600 clients by mid-year. This has been a huge success. What machine learning does is automatically extract a half dozen key fields from the invoice image, such as invoice number, date, property details, vendor info, phone number, email address, and more. It pulls all of that directly off the invoice. The overall accuracy is typically around 75 to 80 per cent. How about the use of machine learning in the Yardi Marketplace on-boarding process? Scott: When new vendors are onboarded into Yardi Marketplace, it often means uploading massive spreadsheets that contain more than 20,000 product barcodes (SKU). Before machine learning was applied, this was a manual process that meant personnel were sorting through every SKU to place them into three categories. That means 60,000 category assignments had to be manually selected. This used to take weeks to complete. Thanks to machine learning, we can now categorize 20,000 SKUs in about 15 minutes. After that initial sorting,...

The pandemic was a wakeup call, affecting families and businesses and putting pressure on all levels of government to quickly provide financial assistance. One key lesson: without the right technology tools, it’s impossible to effectively assist those struggling to keep households and businesses afloat. What is your organization’s strategy to assist those affected when the next crisis hits? If relief funds are again available from federal, state, or local sources, are you confident that your agency will be able to expediently reach affected households, efficiently qualify them and securely disburse funds? Here are four factors to consider if you’re developing an implementation strategy for a direct-to-beneficiary economic relief program: 1. Outreach is Key Financial assistance programs are extremely targeted in nature. You need to reach households in qualified crisis quickly and outreach to the affected community is the best strategy. To be successful, you need mobile-friendly software that staff can easily get into the hands of applicants. Relying solely on paper applications and fielding office visits will not be sufficient. Consider the Connecticut Department of Housing’s successful outreach efforts in marketing its $420 million emergency rental assistance program, Unite CT. The Unite CT bus is an outstanding example of using mobile technology to make it fast and easy for potential beneficiaries to learn about available funds and submit digital applications. 2. Offer Live Support Agencies that make it easy to apply for help are the most effective in assisting their communities. Live telephone support staff are critical in helping families and business owners navigate the application process and ensure they submit necessary information and documentation. Equally important is having trained caseworkers available to quickly and accurately review submitted assistance applications and approve the distribution of assistance. A strong technology platform will make the jobs...

How can senior living providers use business intelligence (BI) tools to elevate their communities? We have the answer for you, and it comes in the form of a brand-new case study. We sat down with Michael Schefter, chief financial officer at Cascadia Senior Living to learn how Yardi Senior IQ has changed the company’s day-to-day processes for the better. From streamlined operations to saved time — Cascadia is reaping the benefits of a single connected BI solution.   Here’s a quick snapshot of the case study, which covers exactly how Senior IQ helps Cascadia prosper. An introduction to Cascadia Senior Living  Cascadia Senior Living & Development is devoted to their residents. Founded in 2013 and based in the Pacific Northwest, Cascadia manages over 13 senior housing properties with a focus on independent living, assisted living, memory care and respite care. Cascadia believes it takes a group effort — residents, their families, their friends and the Cascadia staff — to create vibrant communities. Most importantly, they’re always striving to better their communities. With help from technology, Cascadia drills into individual communities to uncover specific details — finding new ways to improve residents’ quality of life. The challenge with siloed solutions & jeopardized data Before adopting a single connected solution, Cascadia was manually pulling data from disparate sources. Finance, accounting and operations teams were devoting hours to extracting raw data each month, searching for specific metrics, making calculations and transposing data into graphs and slide decks. Digging for specific answers was part of the job — but it wasn’t an efficient use of time. With rapidly expanding communities and a larger pool of metrics, time wasn’t the only issue. Data integrity became a primary concern. Cascadia faced increased discrepancies, manual errors and ultimately, jeopardized data. They...

Earth Day began on April 22, 1970, as a response to environmental deterioration. Inspired by the 1969 Santa Barbara offshore oil spill and other catastrophes, U.S. Sen. Gaylord Nelson (D-Wis.) teamed with Rep. Pete McCloskey (R-Calif.) and activist Denis Hayes to organize a series of college teach-ins. The inaugural event went far beyond campuses, drawing 20 million Americans – 10% of the population – to demonstrations and teach-ins at schools, parks and auditoriums. “Pogo” cartoonist Walt Kelly created a promotional poster. New York City Mayor John Lindsay closed Fifth Avenue to cars and gave an impassioned speech. President and Mrs. Nixon planted a tree on the White House grounds. April 22 became affixed on calendars as Earth Day. Happy earth day banner to celebrate environmental safety One of Earth Day’s enduring legacies is providing a common frame of reference for a disparate range of animal conservation groups, anti-pollution activists and others. “I think the most important thing that Earth Day did was to take all of those different threads and weave them together into this fabric of modern environmentalism, to help them understand that they were operating from similar sets of values,” says Hayes, who remains active in environmental causes. “Earth Day has grown into a secular holiday recognized by billions of people and which has no goal beyond building a better world,” Rolling Stone writer Jeff Goodell said in a 2020 profile of Hayes. This year on April 22, under the theme of “Invest in Our Planet,” millions of private citizens, business leaders, government officials, academics and students around the world will recognize “our collective responsibility and to help accelerate the transition to an equitable, prosperous green economy for all,” according to EARTHDAY.org, a nonprofit that arose from the initial event. EARTHDAY.org will...

There’s no shortage of senior living events this year — but which are worth attending? How should providers fill their calendar for the remainder of 2022? While there are many trade shows packed with valuable takeaways, we’re here to share a few recommendations. These events offer opportunities to connect with experts, discover emerging solutions and ultimately, explore the future of the industry. You’ll find team Yardi in attendance at each, ready to greet you and answer questions about our senior living management software. Keep reading for a roundup of upcoming events to put on your radar. FALA Annual Conference & Tradeshow Happy 30 year anniversary to the Florida Assisted Living Association (FALA)! With decades of industry success, FALA’s Annual Conference & Tradeshow is a fantastic setting to learn tips for navigating an ever-changing industry. Whether you’re eager to network with other professionals, receive updates about the latest industry trends or connect with vendors who can help you deliver better care, this year’s conference has it all. You’ll find team Yardi at booth 423. We’ll show you how our single connected solution helps providers streamline operations and deliver excellent care. Schedule time to connect with us at the conference. Event details: Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress Orlando, Florida May 31-June 2, 2022 CALA Spring Conference & Trade Show Join over 900 providers and top decision makers at the 2022 CALA Spring Conference & Trade Show, including CEOs, CFOs, COOs, executive directors, clinical staff, marketing professionals and more. You’ll tap into a wealth of resources and learn what’s driving the senior living industry forward. Be sure to meet our team at booth 52 where we’ll discuss how the Yardi Senior Living Suite works to empower staff, automate workflows and enhance resident satisfaction. Visit this page to schedule...

In 2019 we reported on Local Law 97, a key element of the Climate Mobilization Act enacted in New York City in May of that year. Described by the Urban Green Council as “the most ambitious climate legislation for buildings enacted by any city in the world,” Local Law 97 aims to drastically reduce carbon emissions from buildings, which account for more than 70% of the city’s emissions. With the 2024 initial compliance milestone on the horizon, the time seems right for a recap. The ordinance imposes stringent carbon emission limits for most commercial properties over 25,000 square feet. It will impact more than 57,000 buildings and mandate reductions of 40% by 2030 and 80% by 2050 through caps, energy upgrades and retrofits. The first set of emissions caps carry stiff financial penalties for noncompliance – potentially millions of dollars in some cases. The first cap will go into effect in 2024. The city is responsible for setting new rules and regulations by the beginning of 2023. A new Office of Building Energy and Emissions Performance will clarify building categories, calculate emissions formulas before the first caps take effect and establish emissions limits for 2035-2039, 2040-2049 and beyond. The city also created a Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) program to help building owners finance energy retrofits and renewable energy projects, such as green roofs, solar energy systems, window insulation, upgraded HVAC systems, improvements to sealing and air ventilation. By the time the law’s tougher requirements take hold in 2030 and later, more labor- and capital-intensive upgrades will be necessary. Some easy fixes Some of the mandatory fixes are fairly easy, such as replacing incandescent light bulbs with LEDs, insulating heating pipes, covering or removing window air conditioner units in the winter, tuning and operating boilers correctly,...

With 40% of the U.S. west of the continental divide classified as being in “exceptional drought” and two-thirds of the world’s population facing water shortages by 2025, an old tactic is getting a fresh look. Authorities around the world are increasingly employing artificial weather modification to spur more rainfall. That usually means seeding clouds, which involves using aircraft or drones to add small particles of silver iodide, whose structure is similar to ice, to clouds. Water droplets cluster around the particles, and when enough droplets combine, they become heavy enough to fall to the ground as precipitation. Another technique, hygroscopic seeding, uses salt to encourage water droplets to collide and produce rain in warm clouds. The practice doesn’t create clouds but maximizes rain from naturally occurring ones. “With drought still a major concern, cloud seeding is an encouraged technology for Wyoming to use based on our drought contingency plan,” says Julie Gondzar, an official in the state’s water development office. “It is an inexpensive way to help add water to our basins, in small, incremental amounts over long periods of time.” “Rain enhancement has the potential to offer a more cost effective, sustainable and much less environmentally damaging option than other solutions, such as desalination” that relies on energy-intensive thermal desalination plants and produces waste that can damage marine ecosystems, adds Alya Al Mazroui, director of the United Arab Emirates’ Research Program for Rain Enhancement Science. Induced rain carries benefits, risks The practice of cloud seeding dates to the 1940s. Today, more than 50 countries around the world have weather modification programs. China reportedly cleared the skies by shooting salt-filled bullets into clouds ahead of the 2008 Beijing Olympics. In 2017 alone, the UAE, which gets about 4 inches of rain annually, carried out 242...

Affordable housing providers and public housing agencies across the country are celebrating Fair Housing throughout the month of April, led by HUD’s annual commemoration of the Fair Housing Act. What better time to look at how a smart approach to delivering service to the community can make a positive impact and promote equality? Reducing use of paper forms and in-person meetings with applicants, residents and participants is a smart strategy for affordable housing providers and PHAs to minimize exposure to fair housing claims. That’s because digital apps that qualify households for assistance eliminate the possibility of housing specialists unlawfully influencing the submission of an application or steering applicants to certain properties. Here are three ways to leverage digital affordable housing workflows to help keep in fair housing compliance. Stay Non-Partial While it is natural for employees to want to help customers, a hands-off approach is often better for everyone. Fair housing laws dictate that households are free to seek residency wherever they like. Neighborhoods or city districts cannot lawfully be unwelcoming, inaccessible or unavailable to households because specific demographic criteria. The most basic way to make sure affordable housing applicants have the freedom to consider a property for residence is to leave the decision up to them. Housing specialists should not be part of the process of deciding what neighborhood would be best for a prospective renter, lest you expose your organization to the perception of steering applicants to properties. Publicizing available units on the web ensures everyone has equal access to your list of properties and vacant units. There’s no need for your team to tell applicants about one property or the other because your applicants can see all vacancies online without need for assistance. Eliminate the Language Barrier Housing providers must accommodate...

Yardi received the below video from UNICEF Romania, which was recently the recipient of a portion of $1 million (U.S.) that the company contributed to efforts to support refugees fleeing the war in Ukraine. “Let me start by thanking you from the bottom of my heart for your generous contribution. Your contribution to UNICEF, which will help children and refugees coming from Ukraine,” says Pieter Bult, UNICEF representative Romania, in the video. Bult is speaking from one of UNICEF’s Romanian Blue Dot locations. Blue Dots offer integrated services in child friendly spaces with a focus on the most vulnerable refugees, as well as assistance with family reunification and communication, information/advice desks, dedicated mother and child areas, psychosocial aid, hygiene, first aid and more. Blankets, warm clothing, health and recreational kits along with hygiene products and baby food are available. “The Blue Dot is one of our symbols of child protection response. In this Blue Dot, the main service that is provided is the registration of children and the care that children need upon arrival here,” said Bult. “This registration is critical also to identify the most vulnerable children, who need special attention and special protection. When they are registered, they will go where needed in the National Child Protection System.” He continues: “There are other services here as well. Psychosocial services, to give attention to the stress that all the families are under, especially the children.” But the Blue Dots are also a refuge, a place where children can relax after their journey out of Ukraine and play with other kids, which is shown in the video. Meanwhile their mothers are receiving information about where to go next, including transportation and housing resources. “This Blue Dot is a critical part of a safety net...

Despite a widely reported drop in college enrollment over the last two years, the student housing industry continues to perform well and is back on track with healthy rent growth and preleasing for Fall 2022. Those were a few of the topline conclusions of a webinar focused on student housing, presented April 13 by Yardi Matrix vice president Jeff Adler. Miss the session? You can view the recording and presentation materials. Overall, up to one million students who were expected to attend college in the U.S. are now missing from enrollment rolls. That’s a significant reduction that will have myriad impacts, from college finances to housing to career prospects. “If you look at the straight from high school to college enrollment, we thought we would see a gap year (in 2020-2021), but it turns out the gap year was an off-ramp,” said Adler. That off-ramp has been detrimental to lower-tier four-year colleges and community colleges. But within the Yardi 200, comprised of the top 200 investment grade universities across all major collegiate conferences, enrollment is up and is expected to continue to be up at a modest rate over the next several years. That’s due to consolidation of enrollment, Adler explained. “If there are fewer (students) available, and you want to get into a school that has a higher reputation, then the name brand schools are the ones that are the winners,” he said. That largely includes the 42 private and 158 public schools that comprise the Yardi 200. As of March, preleasing for next fall was recorded at 63.7 percent across Yardi 200 schools. That’s 13.5 percent higher than the same time last year and 9.9 percent higher than March 2019, before the pandemic. The average rent per bedroom is $777 for Fall...

How can property owners meet the growing demand for environmental, social and governance performance accountability from residents, tenants and investors? Yardi client representatives who lead ESG reporting for their organizations and an official from GRESB, the ESG benchmark for real estate assets, recently offered some insight. Juliette Apicella, director of sustainability for Atlanta-based apartment owner and manager Gables Residential Services, was one of three industry experts who appeared on a YASC Global panel. “More investors are interested in details about our ESG policies and achievements,” she said. That prompted the company to use ESG as “a tool that helps us monitor our assets’ environmental performance as a driver of returns.” Gables has stepped up its recruitment of employees, partners and residents in the effort to incorporate environmental priorities into its operations. Another panelist, Jennifer Plesnicar, vice president for Chicago-area industrial developer and manager CenterPoint Properties Trust, sounded a similar note: “ESG is becoming more important each year” among multiple company stakeholders. “How a company responds to ESG expectations can impact operations ranging from borrowing rates to talent attraction and tenant retention,” she said. The widespread attention to ESG is “pushing the real estate industry forward,” said the third panelist, Dan Winters, head of Americas for GRESB, which collects and validates data and disseminates it to more than 150 institutional real estate investors around the world. “Getting accurate ESG data, rolling it up to the portfolio level and sharing it with the industry increases insight for a company, which appeals to its institutional investors, and also provides better outcomes for GRESB participants.” Overcoming data gathering challenges All panelists agreed that the principal challenge to managing an organization’s ESG performance is gathering, tracking and disseminating the consumption data necessary to formulate ESG actions. “A lot of...

Prolonged inflation and the war in Ukraine are beginning to impact U.S. economic growth and rent performance as well, according to the latest Yardi® Matrix Multifamily National Report. Average U.S. asking rents rose $14 in March to an all-time high of $1,642. However, year-over-year growth dropped 50 basis points to 14.8 percent – an indication that rents are beginning to slow after 2021’s record-shattering performance. “Rent growth is unlikely to keep pace with 2021, as last year’s explosive movement started in the second quarter,” state Matrix analysts. Rents for single-family rentals continue to rise month-over-month, but growth is also decelerating in that subsector. The average U.S. single-family rent rose $14 to $1,999 in March, while year-over-year growth dropped 90 basis points to 14.1 percent. Rent growth continues to be led by population shifts to the Southeast and Southwest. Miami, Orlando, Tampa, Las Vegas and Phoenix all recorded asking rent increases of 23 percent or more in March. “The big picture that emerges from March multifamily data is that the market remains healthy, though signs point to the inevitable deceleration in some markets,” states the report.  “Meanwhile, economic conditions and global events contain headwinds that justify the expectations of moderation and caution.” Gain additional insights from the Yardi Matrix Multifamily National Report. Join Matrix on Thursday, May 12 for a deeper dive into the current state of the multifamily market. Get more details and sign up...

Ready to explore our Yardi EHR mobile apps? Each app — Care Stream and EHR Assessments — has undergone a fresh round of enhancements built to help senior living staff succeed. Keep reading to learn about the latest functionality in both apps: New functionality & expanded compatibility in Care Stream Thanks to Care Stream’s 1.29 update and release, senior care staff can now utilize a simplified task workflow. Shown as either their resident or task summary view, the enhanced workflow displays upcoming tasks using clear, pre-configured icons — all crafted to help staff streamline daily responsibilities and deliver better care. When caregivers enter the task summary view, they’ll see a resident photo, an icon related to a particular task and a color-coded icon representing the level of assistance needed. So if a resident is due for a bath that day, caregivers will see a bath icon in conjunction with a green icon representing minimal assistance, a yellow icon for moderate assistance or a red icon indicating extensive assistance. This means staff members see exactly how to care for each resident — and how much assistance is needed — at a glance. For staff with vision impairments or non-English speakers, these icons are especially beneficial. In addition to viewing their entire task list, staff can also use the icons to filter by individual task for added convenience and time savings. And that’s not all — the Care Stream app also received a compatibility update. Windows 10 users can now download Care Stream directly to their laptop or tablet, rather than utilizing the desktop version. This allows more staff, across varying communities, to utilize the app and access its benefits. Ready to see more? Be sure to download the Yardi EHR Care Stream app on the...