A Look at 2024: Rooted in Our Mission
Rooted in Our Mission
Though the world around has changed substantially since the proposal for what would become NHA was first submitted for community and government backing in 1977, we have remained committed to the foundational elements of who we are, why we exist, and how we honour our mission.
In our 2023 Report to Community, we shared about how we embody the critical elements that uphold our mission and values despite a changing landscape and growing need.
Throughout this year, we’ve worked to concretize those elements at every level of the organization - stabilizing and improving on many fronts - while we begin to carve a path to growth, to more affordable housing in our unique mixed-model, and to the evolution of partnerships and support across the sector.
Financial Stability
NHA is proud to be a self-sustaining nonprofit organization. But that doesn’t mean we don’t take advantage (in the best way) – and receive – help from other parties to complete big projects!
This year we received several incredible and generous grants, helping us support plans for future growth, pursue environmental upgrades and retrofits for our aging buildings, improve our branding and common areas, and contribute to possibly the best Stampede breakfast yet!
A huge thank you to the Canada Greener Affordable Housing Pre Retrofit Fund (via CMHC) for providing us $130,000 to do energy audits and building condition assessments to determine the possibility and probability of implementing retrofits on four of our six buildings.
We also received $5,000 for winning the Social Innovator Award from Canada Volunteer Awards and were able to use those funds to increase the visibility of our office with window wrapping, plus beautify shared and street spaces, with some new murals.
The Ward Community Event Fund generously donated $500 for our Stampede Breakfast, which we used to buy more food and serve more neighbours and residents.
And just this month, we received the $30,000 from the Community Housing Transformation Centre to develop a scaling strategy so that we can understand the impact on NHA (and our residents) of growth, evaluate what opportunities would be the best fit given our resources, and to develop strategies to protect our unique offering and place in community as we grow. We are excited to begin that work in 2025!
Continuous Learning & Leadership
Staff are always looking to build their toolkit, no matter what role they play in the overall organization.
This year our CEO completed her Nonprofit Leadership Certificate Program through the UofC and the CAHDCO Blueprints Program, an intensive training that covers the basics of affordable housing development, and how to complete project feasibility study.
Our Asset Maintenance Lead is making his way through a four year Home Inspection certification – talk about commitment!
NHA’s Accounting & Finance Administrator took several certificate courses including The Practice of Leadership for Nonprofit Organization, Introduction to Risk Management, and an Introduction to Strategic Planning.
Our new Wellness & Programs Coordinator was certainly busy her first year in the role! She completed The Working Mind for Managers & Leaders Certificate, which aims to help people in their places of work, to identify and reduce stigma towards mental health. She also completed The Art of Difficult Conversations with the CHRA and got her RTA certificate (as all new staff at NHA do!).
That’s not to mention the team building activities, conferences, and learning opportunities the entire staff participated in, including a staff lunch ‘n’ learn in honour of Truth and Reconciliation Day with discussions surrounding what reconciliation means and how its translated, a Zine Workshop for staff with Vibrant Communities Calgary with facilitated conversations on Building Enough For all Futures and what is needed to be done to eliminate poverty and staff were asked to make zines that shared their unique ideas and perspectives.
Staff also attended the ASCHA conference, the CHRA Housing Congress in Fredericton, and the City of Calgary’s Housing Partnerships Conference to promote the mixed-income housing model, discuss unique partnerships, and learn about improving access to affordable housing in Calgary (and across Canada).
Our staff are consistently committed to ensuring that they can improve their skill sets, represent the mixed-income housing model, and improve as humans first and foremost. NHA is proud to hire for aligned values, knowing that with aligned values, we can build any skill set together.
Care for Our People & Places
While care for our people and places is quite literally built into the foundation of every single thing we do, there are still sometimes a few exceptional or exciting ways in which we live this value! This year, we hired our first Wellness & Programs Coordinator, a decision that was a direct result of the Resident Wellness Study we did in 2023.
We also always complete a large maintenance or beautification project each year (often both!). This year, we beautified the exterior of our flagship building on Kensington Road with a door wrap based on the art by Solita Work, and added a gorgeous mural to the corner with 10A street by Muraly Creations.
Both pieces have been a hit with residents and the broader community, and make us proud to be able to add some colour to our already vibrant and welcoming community.
We’re proud of how we’ve worked to create more stability for residents this past year, improve our skill set as we set our eye to the future of affordable housing (and specifically, the future of NHA), and worked with incredible partners to ensure our mutual success.
Thank you to everyone who supports us, makes their home with us, and works to improve access to critical affordable housing in our beautiful city.
Wishing you a wonderful end of year and happiest new year!