Representing the voices of owners and managers in the rental housing industry all across Canada, CFAA's National Rental Housing Awards Program is meant to recognize leading rental housing providers and suppliers. More specifically, the Rental Housing Provider of the Year award commends housing providers that demonstrate exceptional leadership.
The Rental Housing Provider of the Year award is judged on a rental provider's achievements in areas such as community outreach, eco-friendly building design, and the advancement of industry standards. To reach a decision, CFAA looks at a rental provider's actions, practices, and initiatives and how impactful and innovative they are. Shiplake was named the winner of 2020's Rental Housing Provider of the Year award with attribution to our response to the Covid-19 crises.
As noted by CFAA president, John Dickie, during the awards presentation, "Shiplake Properties' COVID-19 response program went above and beyond to help residents with rent, engage with virtual cooking shows and home fitness, and provide food gift cards and surprise food deliveries. During these challenging times, Shiplake demonstrates the good rental Housing Providers can do for residents & the community."
Covid-19 Response Strategy
While navigating how to manage our properties during such a unique and challenging time, our biggest focus was on offering support to ensure the safety of our residents, staff, and greater community. Staying updated on best health practices, being committed to our responsibility to the community, and continuing to come up with new ways to partner with our local businesses and restaurants, allowed us to carry out a prompt and successful response strategy to Covid-19 that offered emotional and financial support to our community.
Along with taking extra precautions to maintain a safe and healthy community - such as additional cleaning and sanitization, temporary closure of non-essential amenities, and suspension of regular in-suite maintenance work - we launched various programs with the aim of helping alleviate some of the stress and pressure created by the outbreak's impact on our daily lives.
Programs & Initiatives
DINE IN ON SHIPLAKE
To help our residents help our neighbourhood restaurants, we gave every suite a digital gift card from UberEats for $100 in both April and May. For residents that preferred a different option, we provided alternatives, such as a grocery gift card.
SUPPORTING FRONTLINE WORKERS
Shiplake and the Latner Family Foundation dedicated $250,000 in April to University Health Network emergency staff. Emergency support for food essentials was provided to both Sinai and Sunnybrook Hospitals. We also offered support to The Daily Bread Foodbank in order to help the most vulnerable among us.
ENTERTAINMENT AT HOME
Shiplake and the Latner Family Foundation worked with the National Gallery of Canada to present a virtual tour of the collection on Saturday April 4, 2020.
CHOPPED CHALLENGE
In the month of May, Shiplake residents participated in a weekly cooking challenge with residents of Tricon House The Selby. Every Monday, a local chef announced two secret ingredients and residents from both properties had until Saturday at midnight to create a dish using these ingredients and anything else they liked. Our guest chef of the week then would pick and announce the winner of a $250 prize every Sunday.
GUSTO X SHIPLAKE
For 3 days, we teamed up with Gusto 54 Restaurant Group to do surprise food deliveries to Shiplake residents.
FITNESS AT HOME PROGRAM
We teamed up with local fitness instructors to provide virtual classes to our residents while amenity use has been suspended.
RENT/SHIPLAKE ASSISTANCE
We eliminated the guideline rent increase that applied to suites for the month of April and May and worked directly with any of our residents who were suffering financial hardship and needed to implement special payment arrangements or considerations.
It is through acknowledging the different ways in which Covid-19 has affected everyone that we could come up with a plan to provide a greater sense of security and connectedness. We at Shiplake value our community above all else - our residents, the wider neighbourhood, and our own internal community - because a home is not just a place to live; It is a community in which everyone plays an integral role in staying safe and united.
We owe a big thank you to our supportive and caring Shiplake community for helping us go above and beyond to ensure everyone's safety and comfort during the Covid-19 crises, emerging from it with the honourable Rental Housing Provider of the Year award. We also want to congratulate our fellow finalists and winners who all inspire us to keep raising the bar on rental housing standards.
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