About Hey Neighbour Collective
Hey Neighbour Collective (HNC) brings together housing providers, non-profits, researchers, local and regional governments, housing associations and health authorities to experiment with and learn about ways of building community, social connectedness and resilience in BC’s fast-growing multi-unit housing communities.
Addressing the epidemic of loneliness and social isolation
Locally and globally, a decline in social and community connectedness has become cause for concern. Well before COVID-19, policy makers around the world started taking action to respond to growing research which shows that strong social connections benefit individuals and communities and make them healthier and more resilient.
If the pandemic assured Canadians of one certainty, it’s that social connection is not a luxury. It is essential infrastructure for a healthy society.
At the individual level, social connection grounds us in belonging and well-being.
At the community level, it turns neighbours into networks of mutual care.
At the societal level, it functions as preventative, cost-effective infrastructure that reduces pressure on health and emergency systems.
Growing urban density is a fact of modern life – so, why not use it as a catalyst for social connection?
Nearly half of British Columbians already live in multi-unit housing, and this rising trend is expected to continue in BC and across Canada. Apartments and condos are where more and more of us are settling down, raising children, caring for aging parents, or growing old ourselves. But too often, the design and management of these buildings prioritize short-term cost efficiency, with little attention paid to how people need and want to live in proximity with each other over time.
Hey Neighbour Collective (HNC) convenes leaders from housing, health, urban planning and community-based organizations to leverage social connection within multi-unit housing as a multi-solver for some of our most pressing societal challenges.
Experimenting, learning and making change together
Hey Neighbour Collective is a collective impact initiative composed of many types of partners working together.
DEMONSTRATION PARTNERS are actively scaling programs in multi-unit housing that build neighbourly social connections, resilience, capacity for aging in place and systems of mutual support for managing emergencies together. Hey Neighbour Collective supports peer learning, evaluation and knowledge mobilization for this group.
Current Demonstration Partners include non-profit and for-profit rental housing operators (Brightside Community Homes Foundation, Concert Properties) and community-based non-profits (Building Resilient Neighbourhoods, West End Seniors’ Network, and Whole Way House.)
RESEARCH AND ENGAGEMENT PARTNERS undertake a wide variety of research projects in collaboration with other HNC partners, and co-lead special projects on systems and policy change. Current partners include SFU Urban Studies, SFU Health Sciences, SFU Gerontology and Happy Cities.)
SYSTEMS PARTNERS are organizations that have a shared interest in HNC’s vision, are interested in ongoing collaborative learning and collective action related to addressing loneliness and social isolation and building neighbourly social connections and resilience within multi-unit housing contexts.
Current Systems Partners include BC Non-Profit Housing Association of BC, LandlordBC, Vancouver Coastal Health, Metro Vancouver, City of Vancouver, City of New Westminster, City of North Vancouver and Seniors Services Society of BC. Learn more about Hey Neighbour partners, and the backbone team that facilitates the Collective here.
The partners of Hey Neighbour Collective are working together towards a future where more of Canada’s multi-unit housing is socially connected, neighbourly, age-friendly, health-promoting and resilient.
Key strategies
1. Prototyping and piloting community-building programs and activities
Testing and evaluating diverse community-building programs and activities in a variety of multi-unit affordable housing contexts, with a focus on rental housing.
2. Action research & learning
Generating evidence-based data and inspiration for residents, housing operators and cross-sectoral policy makers which highlights professional practice, systems and culture change opportunities.
3. Story sharing & knowledge mobilization
Sharing our stories, practices and evidence related to improved programming, management, design, and community culture of multi-unit housing.
4. Housing industry & policy engagement
Engaging housing professionals and cross-sectoral policy makers in understanding and implementing opportunities to foster healthier and more resilient housing communities through shifts in policy, programming and practice.
What are we working to change?
Mindsets & culture
Multi-unit buildings as desirable, vibrant, friendly, socially connected communities
Relationships
Connected neighbours; collaboration between residents & property managers
Behaviours & practices
Engaged housing providers and industry, active residents
Policy, Systems & structures
Supportive policy, promoting community well-being and resilience-building
