Annual Report 2016
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2016 ANNUAL REPORT TO THE COMMUNITY Seniors Housing 2016 Annual Report to the Community 1 Message from the Board Chair and CEO Table of Contents Transformation is the word that best describes 2016 for Thank you to our invaluable partners in the community. GEF. The transformation we experienced over the past Through generous support from individuals and Message from the Board Chair and CEO . 3 year helped us continue to move forward serving seniors organizations, record donations from the Building for Supporting Quality of Life . 4 and setting standards for affordable seniors housing Life Breakfast Fundraiser moved us closer to our goal of amidst a rapidly changing economic, political and social $1 million for Sakaw Terrace. A special thanks to all the Embracing Sustainability . 4 environment. We are proud of four achievements in government officials who joined us at the breakfast and Meeting Seniors Housing Needs . 5 particular: breaking ground at Sakaw Terrace, establishing took time during the year to celebrate our achievements a community support program, implementing an and resident milestones. Governments are both our Strengthening GEF Culture . 6 integrated management information system, and raising funders and partners and their participation is invaluable as we transform senior housing. Creating Community Connections . 6 funds for capital building projects. Financial Statements . 8 - 10 After years of planning, we got our shovels in the ground The GEF team, our staff and volunteers, continues to grow in strength and commitment to provide friendly, GEF Locations . 11 for Sakaw Terrace, our most ambitious project to date. This development is our first in the Mill Woods area and offers affordable, and secure housing and services for seniors. GEF Quick Facts . Back Cover both lodge and apartment living options in an integrated We are grateful to our team for their dedication and hard mixed market housing model. Using an integrated project work. Together we will build on our successes of the past GEF Senior Management delivery process makes the planning and construction year and chart new and innovative paths in developing and Raymond Swonek | Chief Executive Officer stages more efficient. A new building code energy managing seniors’ affordable housing. Nancy Simmonds | Director of Operations (returning in 2017) modelling process reduces our environmental footprint. Vicki Graham | Operations Manager The incorporation of these processes into the project Tracy MacLeod | Director of Human Resources allows us to stay on budget, be environmentally friendly, Doug Kitlar | Director of Facility Management and meet the housing needs of our seniors. Gary Gordon Raymond Swonek, CPA, CIHCM Arlene Mazoleski | Controller Board Chair Chief Executive Officer In 2016 we expanded our efforts to positively influence the quality of life of our residents by establishing our 2016 GEF Board of Directors Community Support program with funding from the Gary Gordon | Chair Jacquie Eales (term began May 1, 2016) Government of Canada’s New Horizons for Seniors Karen Lynch | Vice Chair Jack Little Program. The Community Support program connects Bernie Bolton Nomagugu Moyo individual residents to existing but previously untapped Dr. Catherine Cheng Jim Murphy, Q.C. opportunities and services in the community that address Balvant Gandhi (term ended April 30, 2016) Vivian Zhao their diverse needs beyond safe and affordable housing. We are also integrating our operational, maintenance, and financial management systems by transitioning to one software system called Yardi. Designed specifically for housing management bodies, Yardi provides GEF Seniors Housing with an integrated information technology solution that will streamline our processes, increase efficiencies, and save time and money in the long run. 2 GEF Seniors Housing 2016 Annual Report to the Community 3 Supporting Quality of Life As a leading provider of affordable seniors housing in have begun to collect information from our seniors on This will be our first building that will use a mixed market Capital and Lodge Maintenance programs funded by the Alberta, GEF recognizes the need to facilitate opportunities what is very important to their quality of life. Using a approach, where 70 per cent of the 158 apartment and Provincial Government were completed. Under these that enable seniors to engage, connect and feel supported tool developed in collaboration with researchers from the lodge units will be designated for affordable housing programs we undertook elevator modernization, roofing within their community. Launched in 2016, our new University of Alberta’s Department of Human Ecology and 30 per cent will be market units. This approach to and window replacement and security upgrades at many Community Support program works with individual this information will allow us to tailor our programs and sustaining social housing has seen a great deal of success of our buildings. These projects increased the longevity residents to improve their quality of life by connecting services to ensure they are meaningful to the seniors we in Europe and will help make Sakaw Terrace a financially of our building safety and improved accessibility of the them to resources and services that meets their unique serve. self-sustaining building. building to ensure that our housing continues to meet the needs. needs of residents as they age-in-place. In the coming year we will continue to explore options Additionally, Sakaw Terrace is being built under the 2014 Additionally, we are part of the Pan Edmonton Group to enhance the independence and quality of life of our Building Code that requires an energy model be used Canora Gardens is in the final stages of being rebuilt after Addressing Social Isolation of Seniors (PEGASIS), a residents by pursuing their interests, maintaining social in the design of the building. As a result, Sakaw Terrace a devastating fire in 2012. The structural and material collective of seven senior serving agencies from across connections, accessing community resources and feeling will be our most energy efficient building with the lowest upgrades and repairs are almost complete. Canora Gardens Edmonton. Together the group is working to build capacity supported through life transitions as they grow older carbon dioxide emission of any building in our portfolio. will re-open in late 2017 as a largely new building, providing within the community and reduce the social isolation of within our buildings. The Sakaw Terrace development sets a new standard for safe, secure, and affordable housing to 98 seniors. vulnerable seniors who have limited resources. seniors’ affordable housing in Edmonton and positions Embracing Sustainability GEF as a leader. Sakaw Terrace is set to open in late 2018. In December 2016, the Province of Alberta announced To ensure that our efforts to support our residents’ quality Embracing sustainability means being a financially strong $18.2 million as the first release of funding under the of life represent their unique needs and preferences, we and sustainable organization that invests strategically to Meeting Seniors Housing Needs Province’s capital improvements initiative. GEF Seniors improve the lives of Edmonton seniors. We undertook two Ensuring that our facilities are properly maintained to Housing was awarded just over $3 million. This critical major initiatives towards this goal in 2016. last and identifying new capital projects to expand our funding will enable us to continue with necessary upgrades portfolio of affordable housing for seniors is a pressing of buildings and systems across our 41 sites. First, we began the process of overhauling our Foundation- strategic priority for GEF. In 2016, our three-year wide information management system by upgrading to the Yardi Voyageur software program. The Yardi system is specifically designed for housing management bodies. The integrative system will allow us to achieve greater standardization across our operational, building management and financial processes, resulting in SAKAW efficiencies in client management, maintenance practices, TERRACE and accounting and financial reporting. Second, we broke ground for the Sakaw Terrace development in Mill Woods at a ceremony at the Mill Woods Seniors Association on November 22, 2016. Minister of Seniors and Housing Lori Sigurdson, along with Minister of Labour Christina Gray and City Councillor Mohinder Banga, attended the event along with more than 100 members of the greater Mill Woods community to celebrate the start of construction. 4 GEF Seniors Housing 2016 Annual Report to the Community 5 The City of Edmonton approved our application to rezone Throughout the summer of 2016, we attended farmers’ the lands adjacent to Meadowlark Lodge. This location will market events around the City to raise public awareness be the site of our next capital building project, Elmwood about GEF and the safe, secure and affordable housing we Terrace. It too will feature a mixed market model similar to provide to local seniors. Attendees at the farmers’ markets Sakaw Terrace. The development is in the initial planning stopped by our GEF Seniors Housing booth to inquire phase and will include consultations with Elmwood and about new building projects in their neighbourhoods, the surrounding communities. housing programs that the Foundation offers, and volunteer opportunities. GEF Seniors Housing also took part in other Strengthening GEF Culture community events throughout the year. At GEF we