Transform your tenants’ view of your properties from “where I live” to “where I belong”. In a safe and lasting way through the power of neighbours.

Happy Community Project provides the “Good Neighbour Method”. A proven framework that makes belonging accessible, safe, and fun for apartment tenants.

How a connected tenant community benefits your property’s success

Studies show that tenant satisfaction, safety, and community connection positively impact the financial performance and cost-effectiveness of apartment complexes. According to NMHC’s 2024 Renter Preferences Survey, produced with Grace Hill:

Satisfied residents are more likely to renew leases, reducing vacancy rates and turnover costs.
Key contributors to tenant satisfaction include accessible amenities, responsive management, and a strong sense of community.
These same elements only enhance living experience, but also improve profitability for landlords.

Today, isolation has crept into apartment buildings: tenants are often unfamiliar with their neighbours. They’re less willing to ask for help from each other. Communal spaces are left unused, and a sense of disconnect prevails.

It doesn’t have to be this way.

As an owner of residential apartment buildings, you believe that the foundation of a thriving rental property isn’t just about the bricks and mortar; it’s about the people who call it home.

Let u show you a way to create a supportive, connected environment where tenants genuinely know, care about, and support each other.

Introducing the Good Neighbour Method: a repeatable process that nurtures tenant well-being and builds a financially stable, thriving community.

Moving tenants from “avoiding others” to “I care about this building and the people in it” can seem tough. Maybe even impossible. That’s why we (a team of community development experts) created a method that empowers rental property owners to create change – at scale. The Good Neighbour Method enables property owners to shift building culture and transform tenant relations and enhance property value through the power of community.

Our unique Method focuses on transforming your properties by addressing the 3 most common obstacles landlords face:

Short on management capacity and skill?
The Good Neighbour Method consists of bi weekly 1 hour workshops that include “required action” that a property manager can complete within 2 hours per week. Additionally, our team are on hand to coach, guide and support for any roadblocks that come up.
Worried about diminished ROI?
While the Method can be initiated by your team, it is specifically designed to keep sustainable momentum via the larger tenant community. It it’s about empowerment by meeting tenants where they are. Ripples, not splashes.

As tenants embrace the Good Neighbour Method, your management effort goes down, brand reputation goes up.
Worried about communicating to tenants under the constraints of your Tenancy Act?
The Method includes access to the Good Neighbour App Dashboard: a simple but effective Web 3.0 tool designed to respect privacy and your local Tenancy Act regulations. No need to rely on registered mail or complex mailing lists to communicate to 10’s, 100’s or 1000’s of tenants!

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The Good Neighbour App with various neighbour situations around it

Cultural shift made possible in your buildings through accessible training… and a special little app.

The Good Neighbour Method is based on a theoretical framework developed by Bruce Dienes, PhD. Community Psychology, with the goal to “to make (re)connecting with community members easy, safe, and effective”.The overview is as follows:

1. Support your staff and a core group of tenants to plant the seeds of change.

Together, they will have what they need to do the things that cause fellow tenants to come together as a supportive community. They will have the tools and understanding of how to shift culture, how to develop meaningful community, how to motivate people to want to belong, and how to move people out of fear and into action.

2. Connect tenants to each other safely via the Good Neighbour App

The Good Neighbour App is the new doorbell! Tenants can communicate without having to divulge phone numbers, email addresses or social media accounts. Now they can safely ask for help, create or attend social events that bring them together, and share news and ideas that helps them thrive. All without the use of an email list or social media!

Learn more about the Good Neighbour App

3. Build momentum; watch happiness bloom.

Once the Good Neighbour Method hits the milestone you have set, we safely ease ourselves out of the process. Now your building is operating on its own positive flywheel. The best part? You now have the experience and expertise from one building to repeat this process in the next!

Unlocking the financial benefits of a happy tenant community

Our transformative approach invests in the long-term value of your properties. It’s not just a strategy; it’s a proven blueprint of how to get people engaged and connected with each other over shared living space. Many studies show corelation between a tenant’s sense of well-being and positive business outcomes for property owners:

Properties with high resident satisfaction had 13% higher net operating income than those with low satisfaction.¹
Higher tenant retention reduces turnover costs, estimated between $1,000 and $5,000 per unit when including lost rent, repairs, cleaning, and marketing.
Complexes with community-building initiatives report up to 20% lower maintenance costs due to increased tenant care.
Properties with strong tenant communities also experience less vandalism, resulting in lower insurance premiums and repair costs.²
Complexes with high tenant satisfaction see 18% lower marketing expenses due to word-of-mouth referrals.³
Properties known for strong community and resident pride have vacancy rates up to 30% lower than market averages.⁴

Let the Happy Community Project revitalize tenant connections in your apartment complex. So you can enjoy the benefits of a happier building community.

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Who are the people behind Happy Community Project?

The volunteers and professionals at The Happy Community Project believe it is important that neighbours know, care about and support each other.

Collectively we bring skills from multiple disciplines including community psychology, community development, marketing, sales, finance, technology, and cultural change.

What started as an experiment for citizens to make their communities more connected has grown into an international movement. We have helped citizens launch our program in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, USA, Uganda and Kolkata India amongst many others.

It prepares the community to roll with the punches and come up smiling in an age of disruption. It is the best legacy we can leave our children.

Will it work for your buildings? The Good Neighbour Method has been recognized by academics, politicians and ordinary citizens for getting results beyond expectations across diverse communities.

We provide the training and support; your tenants do the work and determines the outcome.

Interested in the community development force behind the Method? We work in collaboration with the Good Neighbour Builders Society.

The Happy Community Project is bringing people out, getting people involved, turning negatives into positives. When you see 20,000 people taking a negative tone and now taking a positive tone, that’s remarkable.

Abe ZebianWarden, Municipality of the District of West Hants, NS

The Happy Community Project has encouraged a lot of people in our community to get involved and to make things happen and to not sit back and let others do it.

Anna AllenMayor of Windsor, NS

Ready to Make a Difference?

Discover how “The Good Neighbour Method” can redefine your rental properties, tenant community, and brand.

Email Barry Braun or call (+1) 902-830-6569.