Social Events Build a Sense of Community
With the 4th of July celebrations and summer just ahead, your tenants will be in lighter more relaxing mood. That makes it a good time to build the festive spirit to build your community and keep tenants feeling good.
After all, summer is a great time for people to gather for a fun, live event. Your community association, apartment building, or other residential development, should include a social get together which can generate some very good vibes in rental tenants.
While some condo buildings and multifamily developments are designed make it easy for tenants to meet or socialize, others, such as condo towers may contribute to tenant isolation and alienation.
One of the biggest issues in society, and in 30 to 60 story residential condo towers, is a lack of social connectivity. Giving them a helping hand can pay off for your business too.
Tenant Conflict: Privacy vs Friendliness
Tenants do crave privacy however that detached atmosphere sometimes creates feelings of isolation. In fact, some suggest that condo/multifamily design actually leads to bad behavior, noise complaints, harassment, law suits, and ultimately convictions.
One report in Toronto Life magazine suggests there is a plague of conflict and anti-social behavior among neighbors in some developments. They hint that renters who are too different from one another in age and lifestyle might be the source of the conflict.
Vertical Cities Need Extra Care
When you consider the multicultural mix in Toronto, you can see how too many differences might lead to conflict. And the size of these developments in a crowded urban area is an issue as well.
But is better tenant selection going to solve the social issues in these vertical cities? Or will proactive community building generate a better outcome?
A new focus on a sense of community helps facilitate tolerance, normal behavior, and adherence to the condo rules.
But when feeling isolated and estranged, friction might grow and lead to troublesome relationships. This is when complaints mount, creating stress and work for landlords and property management companies.
Building Connections and Trust
The solution to these inevitable tenant behavioral issues, is to create opportunities for tenants to meet each other as people. It may disrupt an atmosphere of distrust, annoyance, and suspicion. The context of social events suggests to them that connections are desirable and it puts them in an entirely different frame of mind about the people they co-habit with.
To begin your social plan, it might be a good exercise to create a profile of your tenants, their lifestyle, demographics, and other info. Then find some event ideas that would appeal to them (if there are plenty of kids, then kid events will likely work well). Make your events special and unique and harder to dismiss.
Benefits of Social Events in Multifamily Developments
For landlords and property managers the events could help:
- increase lease renewals and reduce vacancy
- reduce resident complaints
- keep tenant behavior friendlier and more considerate
- reduce calls to police
- reduce evictions, legal and court costs
- create a pleasant community
Of course, each condo or community association, multifamily building and its tenant profile is unique. That means landlords and property managers would need to find social events that fit their communities.
The spectrum of social event opportunities is vast, but here’s 17 party and get together events you might find useful for your community:
- Music in the Park – people love music and they can meet others who have the same tastes. Create your own Jazz in the park evening to let people mingle and talk.
- Foodie Extravaganza – invite foodtrucks and food vendors to an event that showcases local eateries and cuisines
- Barbecue — people love barbecues and they’ll even pay to attend a barbecue event. Buy the food and give them all fun tenant appreciation food event.
- Fitness Classes – use your fitness area to get fitness lovers together
- Pool party for kids – great way to gather the kids and give parents a break.
- Outdoor movies on the lawn – a movie in a relaxed environment is a common event today.
- Build the community garden – very popular in seniors developments as it promotes caring and participation.
- Halloween Party – let them dress up and compete for a great cash prize!
- 4th of July Party – celebrate the nation’s birthday with some authentic Americana and cuisine
- New Year’s Party – ring in the New Year with a get together that lets them toast their neighbors
- Labor Day fireworks get together – if you have a suitable location, buy the fireworks and put on great show
- Professional networking evening – business and professional connections are valuable and sometimes profitable
- Ask a techie event – bring in some tech service companies to answer tech questions on devices and new technology
- Kids costume party day – just give the kids an excuse to have fun and let them compete for some prizes.
- Casino game night – bring in the roulette and blackjack tables and let them play for some nice prizes.
- Cook offs – let them show off their cooking skills in timed competitions via popular meals
- Art exhibition night – people love good art, so invite various local artists to exhibit their creations.
Tips on Organizing Tenant Events
Make your events special, so they don’t come to seem trivial or a source of annoyance. Announce the event well ahead so you can arrange the location, gather vendors, and give everyone time to promote it themselves.
Promote the event in a fun way via your property management software. Ask for brief feedback in a subtle way, such as “How likely are you to attend the event?” Ask tenants what other events they’d like to have.
Don’t just announce. Use the opportunity to gain insight into your tenant base. Ask if some residents would like to participate in organization.
Good luck with your social event plan, and do let us know how you did.
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