Building Communities and Community

By Hugh Heron

The new home industry is one of the most important in Canada – and one of the most misunderstood. Sometimes we’re portrayed in the media as cold, profit-focused bad guys with only our own agendas in mind. And yet each year in Ontario alone, our industry provides thousands of jobs, billions of dollars paid in wages, government revenues that run into the billions - and that’s not counting development charges, as well as property taxes that bring in municipal revenues forever.

We take a piece of property, often with no services or trees on it, and we pay to have roads, sewers and other infrastructure installed, maybe a school, thousands of trees, etc. Of course, we also build houses, townhouses and/or condominiums on it. When you consider the HST as well, what we do benefits all three levels of government.

Remember, every home was once a new home, and the bottom line is that we provide municipalities with a way to generate additional taxes outside the general tax base. What the public may not realize is that the “bottom line” is only part of new home builders’ commitment. We create communities, but we also feel very strongly about helping the greater “community” in and around our neighbourhoods. In fact, builders are among the most dedicated corporate citizens in Canada today.

We are responsible businesspeople who donate time and money in support of a tremendous number of charities and nonprofit organizations.

Look around the Greater Toronto Area, for example, and you’ll find many new home builders serving on the boards of charities. The builders I know have their favourite causes, and they enlist their employees and suppliers to help them make an impact through financial donations, hands-on involvement and promotion.

At Heathwood Homes and The Heron Group, we created our own charity in 2003 – The Mikey Network. In 2002, our friend and partner Mike Salem experienced sudden cardiac arrest on a golf course and died. To honour his memory, we decided to focus our fundraising on promoting heart-healthy living and placing public-access defibrillators called MIKEYS in as many public places as possible. It is gratifying to see how generously our colleagues rally around this cause, and how community organizations with similar goals are willing to partner with us to make a difference.

In spring of 2010, for example, we participated in the GTA Walk of Life. Over 1,200 people gathered at the Ontario Science Centre to take part in the Cardiac Health Foundation of Canada’s (CHFC) 5 km run or 3 km/5 km walk through ET Seton Park. This included over 300 “Team Mikey” members with their red T-shirts, white hats and red whistles. The Mikey Network is also donating public-access defibrillators called MIKEYS to all the Foundation’s rehabilitation centres that held walks across Canada. It was phenomenal. We had walkers of all ages, including families with kids and dogs. The Mikey Network is more than just a charity to us; it has become part of our corporate culture at Heathwood and The Heron Group.

The level of commitment across the industry goes beyond individual builders. Take the Building Industry and Land Development Association (BILD). Among the charities that BILD and its various chapters support are Dog Guides – Lions Foundation of Canada, Interim Place, and Habitat for Humanity. In fact, many builders are involved with Habitat for Humanity, both through financial donations and hands-on help with construction. And in June, the City of Toronto honoured 21 Affordable Housing Champions, nonprofit and private sector developers that are building more than 3,000 new affordable rental and ownership homes in the city this year.

Builders get involved because we care, and because we take our responsibility to the greater community seriously. As far as I’m concerned, hew home building is a noble profession, and I’m proud to be part of it. After all, what is more gratifying than building the places we call “home”?

Hugh Heron is Principal and Partner in the Heron Group of Companies and President of Heathwood Homes, as well as a former Member of the Board of Directors of Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, and a Past President of the Toronto Home Builders’ Association and the Ontario Home Builders’ Association.