RENT SMART IN ACTION

Latest Projects + Innovation

We are always building and expanding to improve our impact.

Here are some of our latest projects we’re excited to share with you.

A Rent Smart Collaboration

Calgary Rent Smart
2021-22 Program

with The City of Calgary Home Program

The 2021-22 program offers Calgary tenants, Housing and other service providers a range of free tenant education resources for renters, and those supporting tenants. To date, we have offered information sessions, tenancy legislation webinars, and access to our RentSmart Certificate Online self-directed tenancy education course.

We are currently providing co-facilitation and support for Calgary service providers who are advocates for their clients and want to use RentSmart Basics as a means for tenants to gain skills and knowledge to navigate through tenancy challenges.

Project completion is scheduled for September 2022.

**This project is made possible through financial support of the City of Calgary. We gratefully acknowledge the Calgary Drop-In & Rehab Centre Society as a long-standing Rent Smart Partner & Regional Champion.

A New RentSmart Partnership

NUNAVUT Territory:

Atuqtuatsiarniq Iglulirijikku,nit
(the name of this project in the Inuktitut language)

Rent Smart has taken on its first customized tenant education project with the Government of Nunavut-Nunavut Housing Corporation. This project is in partnership with Ilitaqsiniq-Nunavut Literacy Council and led by an advisory council of Nunavut stakeholders.

This is an exciting and challenging project and we look forward to sharing more as it is developed.

MORE DETAILS:

Rent Smart Education and Support Society was approached by the Nunavut Housing Corporation to develop a customized tenant education program in partnership with Ilitaqsiniq-Nunavut Literacy Council.

This program is grounded in Inuit Societal Values and takes into consideration the unique factors related to tenancy in the Nunavut Territory.

The materials will be available in both Inuktitut and English.

It’s an exciting project and we look forward to sharing more as it continues to develop.

A NEW RentSmart Course

Foundations

The Foundations course is born out of a well-identified need for those who work in supportive roles with tenants to better understand and navigate residential tenancy matters. Based largely on our successful RTA pilot project in 2020, we have developed the Foundations course.

Our focus is to increase the knowledge, confidence, and skills of participants through practical and participatory tenancy curriculum.

Understanding the complexities of tenancies can feel daunting, however, even a basic level of familiarity can make a big difference. Whether you work for a housing provider or community organization, knowledge of this education and resources can increase your day-to-day capacity to help tenants and clients avoid common pitfalls, resolve tensions, and stay housed.

Our hope is that by empowering those who support tenants, we can help to improve tenant housing experience by creating greater stability and confidence with their tenancies, and to avoid eviction.

Topics include:

Privacy and Human Rights legislation
Legal/illegal fees
Tenancy agreements
Affordability
Roommates
Maintenance responsibilities
Evictions
Rent increases
Dispute resolution and more!

“I feel like I am more capable of educating tenants about their rights and responsibilities & respond more effectively to issues that come up.”

– Rent Smart Course Participant

Learn how to navigate the challenges of tenant rights and responsibilities to improve housing stability in your community.

For questions or more information, please contact our BC Provincial Coordinator, Christina Elliot, at christina@rentsmarteducation.org

Upcoming Course Schedule

To ensure our efforts and quality of education remain at the highest level, after the Foundations pilot, we worked with a third-party to evaluate and compile an Executive Summary of the results.

Project Evaluation Full Report

Project Evaluation Executive Summary

"Rent Smart helped me to build confidence with finding housing.

It helped me to be a better tenant and gave me knowledge about my rights and responsibilities. I would highly recommend it to anyone who is struggling with housing to gain more knowledge about being a responsible tenant. Oh and I got a place very quickly!”

– Rent Smart Student

"It helps young people moving out for the first time.

They take in a lot of information they were not aware of. It also gives them more confidence and prepares them to start looking at places.”

– RentSmart Educator

*We are currently at capacity with this service.

Want to learn more?

Custom Curriculum

Fee for service or joint grant applications

Rent Smart’s tenant education curriculum was developed to meet as broad an audience as possible. However, we recognize that some folks or organizations would benefit from a customized approach.

Rent Smart is offering a limited number (based on our capacity) of customized tenant education programs to meet a variety of needs. We will explore funding options with you and work together to develop a curriculum that reflects your organizations needs so you can better meet the needs of tenants.

The customized curriculum packages may be tied into the broader Rent Smart system or be independent stand-alone programs.

Contact Us to Learn More

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#211-611 Discovery Street
Victoria, BC V8T 5G4

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