Of all our physiological needs, one of the most important is shelter. Having a roof over our heads can increase likelihood of employment, create positive health outcomes, reduce crime rates, and more. Housing is a baseline that sets people up for greater success.
At WPD Management, we believe everyone deserves quality, safe housing and support. That’s why we partner with organizations around the city who offer subsidized housing to youth who are experiencing homelessness, or come from backgrounds that may make it hard for them to find housing. While this may not seem like a conventional move for property managers, these partnerships have made lasting, positive impacts on our team members, our tenants, our units, and our neighborhoods.
Two of the organizations we partner with, Kids Above All and Ignite, help house young people who may come from under resourced backgrounds or live with mental illness or a disability. But they don’t just house people — they also provide social and emotional support and mentoring. We see Ignite and Kids Above All changing people’s lives every day. The groups take in young people between the ages of 17 and 24 and provide them with a unit managed by WPD. Currently, WPD and our partner organizations support about 100 of these individuals, and it’s always encouraging to see the way their lives change.
Not only do the programs help pay their rent, but they also help them find jobs and build life skills — including things like budgeting, or how to pay a utility bill. These programs are unique in that they ensure that the caseworker-to-resident ratio is low, so residents have a face to put to the name of the person they are working with. The goal of these partnerships is to uplift these residents to a place where they are able to work, pay their own rent, or even potentially buy a house in the future. By providing these young people with a home and life skills, these programs are able to supply them with the resources they need to work their way up in the world.
Our partnerships with Kids Above All and Ignite are so valuable to us because of their holistic approach to helping these young people thrive. Many groups provide housing for people who need it, but that’s where the support stops. These programs are different – they provide participants with the tools they need to become independent. And once they’re on their own, they won’t be overwhelmed by the new responsibilities of renting or owning a home. If these programs didn’t provide that kind of emotional support, it would be extremely difficult for these young people once they aged out and went to live on their own for the first time, and could put them back into a delicate situation that could be detrimental to their growth.
Many property management companies may not think to take advantage of relationships like these — but we’ve found them to be highly beneficial to us and to our city. They’re good for property owners, because the organizations help take care of the units, making sure they’re in good condition and taken care of, and they’re good for our neighborhoods, which is what our team at WPD is always striving for. Participants say that the support provided made them into the adults they are today, and that they’ve learned new communication skills and how to be truly independent. Those skills are invaluable, and we are grateful to play a role in these life changing services.
We also aim to ensure WPD is beneficial for these programs and tenants too. Since our mission is to work in the areas we serve, these residents and the folks at KAA and Ignite can feel comforted knowing that their property managers and landlords are nearby and accessible.
While our main goal is to provide the highest quality of housing we can for individuals and families, we also want to look at the bigger picture — that means looking at how we can invest in historically underserved communities, and asking how we can use what we have at our disposal to provide people with resources they need to reach their full potential. Working with these organizations helps us get closer to achieving our goals, and it helps not only the folks who live in our buildings but also neighborhood ecosystems. We’re proud of the partnerships we’ve created and hope to continue seeing them grow with us in the coming years so we can help change lives and support as many people as possible.