Multifamily owners and property managers are giving time and money to help residents in their properties—and in the communities nearby.
Back to School
Every year, ZRS Management and its clients provide free backpacks loaded with school supplies to young people at the apartment communities the firm manages.
“The kids get super excited when they get to come in and get a brand-new flashy backpack, especially the younger kids,” says Stephanie Kircher, regional vice president for Eastern markets for ZRS, working in the firm’s offices in Atlanta. “The parents really appreciate it.”
ZRS manages over 90,000 apartments at about 300 properties, from Southern Florida to Texas. They range from new, luxury mid-rise buildings to older, garden-style properties. The third-party management company holds its back-to-school events at about 20 communities where rents—and the incomes of many residents—are relatively low.
“We'll do this big back-to-school party for our residents,” says Kircher. “Usually, it’s a BBQ, or it could be pizza—every property does it slightly different.”
ZRS and its clients buy these backpacks from vendors such as the Back to School Shop, a nonprofit based in Stamford, Connecticut, that supplies brand-name school supplies to children at affordable prices. For students attending high school, ZRS spends about $13 each for durable backpacks from brands like JanSport that can carry their heavier textbooks. “For the older kids, we try to keep the colors as neutral as possible," says Kircher.
For younger children, ZRS spends less than $5 apiece for backpacks in brighter colors, often decorated with characters from popular TV shows and movies like “Wicked.” “Last year was ‘Barbie,’” she says. “We had tons of Barbie backpacks.”
Another firm, The Michaels Organization, has created a scholarship program for residents in its apartment communities.
“We've given away more than $16 million. Four thousand scholars have benefited from this,” says Nick Cangelosi, senior vice president of development at Michaels, based in Camden, New Jersey. The firm owns and operates affordable, military, and student housing.
Michaels also provides services and supports like after-school programs and tutoring to the low-income families that live in its affordable housing communities. The tough competition to win subsidies like federal low-income housing tax credits often rewards or requires these services.
“Providing millions of dollars in scholarships is absolutely over and above any requirement on a qualified allocation plan or a tax credit application,” notes Cangelosi.
Applicants to the Michaels resident scholarship program can receive awards up to $13,000, and they are encouraged to reapply during each year of their undergraduate education. “Our community managers and social service coordinators are vital in identifying eligible scholars and assisting them in applying,” he says. “They understand who really needs that extra little boost.”
The Payback
The apartment executives interviewed for this story say that giving back is part of their corporate culture.
“We never do this with the intent of having a payback,” says ZRS’ Kircher.
But they get paid back anyway. It turns out the kinds of programs ZRS and Michaels provide for residents have a measurable benefit to their bottom line, starting with resident retention. Renters are more likely to renew their leases at apartment properties where they feel a connection with their neighbors and the community, says Kircher.
“Most of our clients over the past few years have really shifted their focus more on resident retention,” says Kircher. When an existing renter moves out, it can easily cost $700 to $1,000 just to repaint, without any other renovations, she notes. Lost rent and the cost of advertising on apartment websites can quickly add up to thousands of dollars.
During the crisis of the COVID pandemic, Michaels had better retention and rent payments than many other apartment managers, says Cangelosi. “Our hardship was less than others because of all this investment,” he says.
Kircher also says ZRS learned some lessons during COVID. “The renter that is with you today—who is paying rent on time and keeping the community value up—is the renter you want to keep.”
Connecting to Communities
This holiday season, property managers working for Cushman & Wakefield plan to partner with local charities to help people living near the rental properties it manages.
At The Havenly Superstition, a single-family rental community in Apache Junction, Arizona, Cushman & Wakefield’s team will partner with the local branch of The Salvation Army. They will deliver complete Thanksgiving meals to local residents unable to leave their homes.
Last year, a Cushman & Wakefield team delivered a meal to an elderly woman who had no family nearby. She hadn't celebrated the holiday in many years and invited the team into her home for tea and cookies.
“The moment became a cherished memory for everybody involved,” says Colleen Sweet, senior property manager at The Havenly Superstition. The team also participates in its own back-to-school backpack drive, food drives, and a Christmas toy drive, among other events.
Cushman & Wakefield staff and volunteers from the wider community help prepare and pack the food they deliver in events like the holiday food drive. “It’s an unpredictable benefit because you don’t know exactly what conversations you’re going to have,” says Sweet.
“When we give back to our community, our community gives back to us,” she adds.
Donating Time
Waterton, a multifamily investor and manager, encourages employees to volunteer their time during workdays with nonprofit organizations that support and contribute to the communities in which they live.
Each employee can take up to 16 hours per year for volunteer efforts. They can spend this time at any organization recognized as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. In 2023, Waterton employees logged over 1,200 volunteer hours. In the first 10 months of this year, workers volunteered even more—1,264 hours.
These employees spend time volunteering, even though they still have to complete their regular work duties on their to-do lists once they get back to the office.
“It’s so rewarding to them personally,” says Christina Steeg, senior vice president of marketing at Waterton, headquartered in Chicago. “That offsets the fact that they might have to work a little bit harder or cross off a couple of things a little more efficiently on their to-do list.”
Waterton’s culture of giving might also help the company find and retain talented employees. “I know it very much attracted me to this organization,” says Steeg.
Many apartment companies have struggled in the past year with a tough labor market. New workers have been hard to find, and many teams have been overworked and understaffed. “A lot of young team members really look to see what organizations do and how they give back,” says Steeg. “That attracts them—and not only to potentially want to work there. It creates a a sense of community and belonging. It adds value and builds retention among our teams."
MCS, a property services provider headquartered in Lewisville, Texas, gives its employees a chance to volunteer together twice a year in each of the five regions where the company does business.
In Ruston, Louisiana, dozens of MCS employees volunteered together at a local animal shelter this year. “We did handiwork, taking care of painting, organizing, washing, and cleaning,” says Marti Diaz, chief human resources officer at MCS. “We also got to play with the pets. We had three people adopt pets that day.”
In Attleboro, Massachusetts, team members painted buildings and railings at the Capron Park Zoo on a cloudless day in 90-degree heat. “Our CEO went to all of these events this year,” says Diaz. “He knows his way around a paintbrush and a hammer.”
MCS has been holding these regular volunteer days for about three years. Many times, staff members have formed relationships that mattered later. “Over the last few years I've seen that folks are not as nervous to reach out and say you know I have an idea or I have a question,” she says.
The cost to MCS of these events is the cost of having employees away from their desks for the day, says Diaz, adding that it is well worth it. “The very best employee experience I can think of to team-build is getting out there into your community and serving together—especially in an environment where a lot of folks work from home,” she says.
