We know that homes are more than just buildings. Metro Vancouver Housing provides a wide range of family-friendly programs to support healthy, engaged communities. The following provides a list of some examples of community building programs. To learn more, see our Tenant Associations page.

 Tenant Associations

• Events and Programs: A range of social events, educational workshops, and other special initiatives help to support well-being, build capacity, and foster community spirit.


• Healthy Living Programs: Initiatives such as community kitchens, cooking workshops, and programs like Food Skills for Families help to support healthy living.


• Community Gardens: Community gardens are a great way to get some sun and fresh air while growing your own produce and reducing your grocery bill. Through the pandemic, we’ve seen an increased need for food security and have been expanding community gardens. Learn more about Community Gardens at Metro Vancouver Housing.
   Community Gardens
  
  
• Gardening Workshops and Hydroponics: Metro Vancouver Housing is working with tenants to explore new ways to enjoy gardening! This includes free gardening workshops hosted by a resident Organic Master Gardener as well as a hydroponic gardening pilot project that uses nutrient-rich water without soil and substantially decrease growing time.


• Decorative Wraps Program: Through a program with BC Hydro, Metro Vancouver Housing has engaged residents to submit photos or artwork for hydro boxes at their housing sites. Winning designs are installed and help to beautify housing sites and celebrate tenants’ creativity.


• Murals: Metro Vancouver Housing has supported tenants at numerous housing sites to design and paint murals, encouraging creativity and community building.


• Play Space Design Projects: Metro Vancouver Housing has been working with residents to design new hard play spaces at their housing sites. Hard play spaces allow for a greater range of play for all ages and provide safe spaces for kids to ride bikes and scooters away from roadways and parking areas. Residents are challenged to a design contest and get involved in painting the designs, followed by a celebration.


• Free Food Program: Metro Vancouver Housing Tenant Associations are working with Immigrant Link Centre Society (a local charity) to minimize food waste by providing free food to low income residents. Perishable food is collected from grocery stores close to its “best before” date and then distributed to housing sites. Resident volunteers coordinate the separation of food into boxes for the households registered in the program while following safety protocols. This important program assists residents with their grocery bill and provides nutritional food. This successful program is being expanded across Metro Vancouver Housing sites to serve even more communities in need.
   Immigrant Link Centre Society
  
  
• Housing Extreme Makeover: Each year, a housing site is selected and teams made up of Metro Vancouver staff and residents spent the day working together to beautify the site with projects like landscaping upgrades, painting fresh lines in parking lots, and renewing/repairing fences.


• Spring Flower Program: Every Spring, Metro Vancouver Housing provides a selection of spring flowers to housing sites to beautify outdoor spaces. Tenant Associations’ volunteers distribute flowers to interested households.


• Community clean up events: Metro Vancouver Housing supports Tenant Associations to clean up their local communities. At Greystone Village, the Tenant Association, along with the Eagle Creek Stream Keepers Society, host an annual community event that brings together neighbours, cleans up the surrounding creek area, and gets tenants and youth involved in environmental stewardship.
  Greystone Village Creek Cleanup
  
  
• Educational Workshops: Metro Vancouver Housing works closely with Tenant Associations to host workshops related to the interests in the community. Educational workshops have included: fire safety and emergency preparedness, financial literacy, health and wellness topics, gardening workshops, paint days with local artists and much more.


• Free Book Exchange: Staff and tenants support free book exchanges to encourage reading and build community.


• Fundraising for Community Events: Metro Vancouver Housing encourages Tenant Associations to participate in fundraising to support community events. Examples include: applying for Community Small Grants, organizing bottle drives, hosting yard sales, and electronic recycling fundraisers.


• Children’s Summer Programs: Metro Vancouver Housing has partnered with local organizations to provide Summer Pop-Up Play for children and parents at select housing sites. These programs provide healthy activities and opportunities to engage and connect with other families in the community. Local organizations provide the programming while Metro Vancouver Housing provides spaces for hosting as well as snacks and beverages for participating children.