Yardi Canada recently contributed in multiple ways to the Ontario Non-Profit Housing Association’s annual conference and trade show this month. The three-day event in Toronto attracted 500 in-person and 500 online attendees and offered sessions dedicated to exploring emerging trends in housing innovation, funding opportunities and technology. Along with hosting a booth and serving as a sponsor of the conference, Yardi team members moderated a pair of panels. One session, with Wayne Tuck, Yardi senior director of residential housing for Yardi Canada, focused on the implications of funding affordable housing stock with social impact capital, also known as “patient” capital, that favours impactful social infrastructure over the traditional demand for immediate market returns. Panel focuses on strategies A second session, moderated by Yardi Canada’s Meherzad Bakht, focused on the challenges of using technology as a means of satisfying the next generation of social housing management. Panelists Clinton Reid, manager of quality assurance and compliance for Toronto social service agency WoodGreen Community Services, and Thomas DiCarlo, CFO for housing and health service provider Services and Housing In the Province (SHIP), examined how holistic technology strategies can help community housing providers reduce communication barriers, increase tenant satisfaction and maintain data integrity. Here are some of the key takeaways from their session: Crisis triggered tech adoption For SHIP, and many other organizations, the pandemic and the shift to remote work accelerated the implementation of new software solutions. “We worked in a paper environment with manual processes, making information not readily available or reliable. This added to the time and effort staff dedicated to reporting,” DiCarlo said. That pain point prompted SHIP to implement solutions for procurement management and payment processing, to help reduce redundant and error-prone processes. This step also improved SHIP’s ability to effectively complete financial...

Technology has the power to transform our work and our lives. During the Ontario Non-Profit Housing Association (ONPHA) conference, Yardi sponsored and moderated the session, Impactful Innovation: Leveraging tech to gain visibility and empower your teams. Meherzad Bakht, senior account executive at Yardi Canada Ltd. moderated the panel attended by Kelly Black, chief administrative officer, District of Timiskaming Social Services Administration Board (DTSSAB), Clinton Reid, quality assurance and compliance manager, Woodgreen Community Centre and Abdulle Elmi, business lead, Housing Management Enterprise System (HoMES) at Toronto Community Housing Corporation.  The live virtual event explored solutions that can help organizations improve oversight and visibility into their facilities and operations, elevate resident management and tenant care, and inspire diverse teams and drive efficiencies. Here are some of the highlights from the discussion. The quest for change Different factors served as catalysts for change within their organizations. Two consistent threads emerged: front-line staff endured repetitive, time-intensive manual tasks that often resulted in inefficiencies and inconsistencies; and disparate systems resulted in murky reporting and limited data analysis. The organizations sought for a way to streamline reporting, requiring fewer employees to spend less time identifying a single point of truth. Reid explained, “When we communicate to leadership that we can get the job done, we neglect to convey the amount of time and effort required to pull and complete a report.” He continues, “When COVID hit, we realized the number of resources put into reporting was significant.” All three organizations experienced some resistance at the ground level. Staff were leery of learning complex software that didn’t completely meet their needs or understand the social housing reporting requirements. The request to document processes also resulted in a sense of unease, though leadership assured their teams the efforts would ultimately support and simplify their work. Elmi said,...

Peter Altobelli, vice president of sales and general manager of Yardi Canada Ltd., recently spoke at the Ontario Non-Profit Housing Association (ONPHA) Conference. The social housing conference attracted more than 1,100 delegates including housing staff, board members and tenants from across the province, as well as service managers and government officials. Altobelli presented to a packed room and focused on the effects of automating property maintenance in the social housing industry. “Let’s face it. Keeping properties well maintained requires a lot of effort and capital resources. It also impacts the satisfaction of residents and staff. We’ve found that automating property maintenance can help housing providers cut facility management costs, save time and make life easier for everyone involved,” Altobelli said.. Three case studies helped illustrate how social housing organizations made property maintenance services more effective and efficient with  technology. The three organizations profiled during the presentation were Renfrew County Housing Corporation (Renfrew), Cochrane District Social Service Administrative Board (CDSSAB) and Lanark County Housing Corporation (LCHC). Renfrew County Housing Corporation manages housing in the largest (geographically) county in Ontario with nearly 3,000 square miles of land. With 15 staff to manage such a vast area, Renfrew was challenged with timely communication and manual processes. Prior to the adoption of technology for their maintenance management, staff relied on faxed documents and manual data entry into a desktop computer. The service team were required to commute to the offices to pick up work orders, which further ate into the lead time of each service request. Renfrew gained efficiency and connectivity with mobile solutions from Yardi. They improved customer service and made it easier for staff to identify high-priority repairs that needed immediate attention. Moreover, technology has helped Renfrew make their management more insightful and effective through complete...

The Ontario Non-Profit Housing Association (ONPHA) held a three-day conference and tradeshow in Toronto earlier this month, focused on the theme “Let’s Grow Together.” More than 1,100 housing professionals, government representatives, community partners and service managers attended. Yardi presented  “A Real-World Look at Technology in Social Housing,” an informative look at innovation. The room was completely full as Peter Altobelli, Yardi vice president of sales and general manager of Canadian operations, moderated a discussion about how technology impacts non-profits, how everyday tasks can be automated and how non-profits can maximize their return on investment in technology. Panelists included Christine Brutin, chief executive officer for Haldimand-Norfolk Housing Corporation; Dana Farcasiu, supervisor of technical services for Renfrew County Housing Corporation; and Wendy Duncan, manager of finance and administration for Stoney Creek Community Homes. The session began with the topic of change management issues that arise with new technology adoption. Ms. Brutin noted how far their organization had come since computers first became commonplace in the work space in the early 90’s. “We had a large mainframe computer that nearly took up its own room!” Ms. Brutin recalled. Haldimand-Norfolk successfully dealt with numerous challenges as the organization began to rely more heavily on computers as well as software solutions such as Yardi Voyager for Canadian Social Housing, which Haldimand-Norfolk began using in 2000. Panelists discussed how automation has made their organizations more efficient, and helped them better serve their clients. Pain points such as missing case management documentation, disjointed information and lack of consistency in historic records were all cited as “defining moments”  that led to the decision of technology adoption by the panelists. Ms. Farcasiu added that “with the access to information, increase in productivity and reduction on downtime, with Yardi, I have been able to...