District Manager (East Region)

About Toronto Community Housing Corporation

Toronto Community Housing Corporation (“TCHC”) is the largest social housing provider in Canada and the second largest in North America. We are wholly owned by the City of Toronto and operate in a non-profit manner. TCHC provides homes to over 41,000 low and moderate-income households in 88 of Toronto's neighbourhoods, with 93,000 tenants from many different backgrounds with a diversity in age, education, language, mental and physical ability, religion, ethnicity and race. We are an essential part of the City of Toronto's fabric and social system.

Our over 2,000 employees work to achieve our vision of quality homes in vibrant communities where people are proud to live and work.

What we offer

In addition to competitive compensation and a rewarding career where you can truly make a difference, we offer a comprehensive package that meets the various needs of our diverse employees, including:

• Ability to participate in inclusive employee-led networks to educate, inspire, amplify voices, build relationships and provide development opportunities;
• Defined benefit pension plan with OMERS, includes 100-per-cent employer matching;
• Employee and family assistance program;
• Maternity and parental leave top up (93% of base salary);
• Fitness membership discount;

Make a difference

Reporting to the Assistant General Manager (AGM), the District Manager provides leadership to the service delivery of day-to-day building services related to demand maintenance and cleaning activities within the East Region.

The role is primarily responsible for providing leadership to the District Supervisors and approximately up to 80 staff and is focused on operational service delivery in alignment with the organization’s strategic plan including management of an operating budget (approx. $12M), corporate compliance with building operation legislation, vendor management, and performance management of union and non-union staff.

In this role you will contribute to the development and management of strategic plans at the regional level, including the management of standards, service delivery tied to accompanying budgets, work break down structures and performance management plans in a manner that supports TCHC’s tenant focused culture.

What you’ll do

• Manage a team of approx. 80 union and 2 non-union staff to meet and uphold the maintenance standards of our units and buildings.
• Provide leadership to the delivery of building maintenance services for the region.
• Monitor and manage the region’s delivery of building maintenance services including demand maintenance repairs, preventative maintenance checks, life safety system checks and capital repair identification.
• Manage through established strategic plans and metrics, as identified in the Operations Agreement, and developed by the General Manager/Chief Operating Officer, for in suite, exterior, interior and common space maintenance of the buildings and align standards with work breakdown structure and hours to complete task to ensure optimal staffing levels to keep buildings in a state of good repair.
• Collaborate with other managers, supervisors, and staff across the different service pillars to provide seamless and consistent services.
• Handle repair backlogs and prioritize maintenance based on risk and safety.
• Manage the district’s building maintenance services budget and ensure service delivery meets the standard tied to the budget.
• In collaboration with the AGM, participate in the development of and lead the review of performance indicators, identifying those that are below the pre-determined standard and implementing management plans to address deficiencies.
• Ensure compliance with applicable by-laws, standards and legislative requirements including Municipal Licensing standards (MLS) and various other regulated building component authorities (i.e. ESA, TSSA, ULC, etc).
• Overseeing the management of MLS orders and TFS violations
• Managing escalations from various stakeholder’s groups related to cleaning and maintenance.
• Pro-actively manage emerging building maintenance service-related issues and resolve escalations from tenants, staff, vendors, and other stakeholders that impact TCHC properties and/or the broader region.
• Manage building audit, maintenance, and inspection routines.
• Lead process improvement initiatives and demonstrate a value for improving the quality, cost, and tenant experience of maintenance services through audit of service delivery (staff and vendor); identify areas for change.
• In collaboration with Human Resources, contribute to the resolution of labour relations matters including discipline, grievances, and union partner relationship management.
• Review and approve costs at a defined threshold; escalates cost approvals to AGM as required.
• Coordinate the timely payment of vendor invoices related to demand maintenance repair (including confirmation of work completion)
• Comply with corporate purchasing policies and related operational business process standards.
• Develop business cases for any critical building maintenance service-related issues that have been identified.
• Use sound judgment to effectively prioritize demand maintenance investment to extend asset life, ensure life safety and mitigate organizational risk.
• Lead special programs including centrally managed maintenance initiatives or projects.
• Participates in cross-functional project teams in the planning and implementation of strategic initiatives deployed into operations; occasionally taking ownership of project deliverables.
• Monitor actual cost performance for variance from budget and develop responsive management actions plans on a monthly and quarterly basis.
• Develop performance plans for the team members to drive service delivery of maintenance activities, measuring achievement to metrics and standards within a process of continuous performance management.
• Foster an environment of organizational development among Supervisors and frontline building maintenance services staff; monitoring any succession plans; participating in coaching and mentoring activities.
• Build and nurture a culture of tenant centric performance excellence through communication, coaching and fair/equitable treatment of staff, promoting a safe, respectful, diverse, and inclusive workplace.
• Adhere to established People & Culture policies and procedures.
• Intervene as required to investigate vendor performance issues; liaise with suppliers to resolve issues/disputes and escalate as required.
• Participate in RFP evaluations pertaining to building maintenance related services.
• Coordinate local building condition audits (on demand).
• Liaise directly with tenants through community meetings, service escalations and complaints to listen to issues and ideas; responding accordingly and acting where required.
• Appear at the Landlord and Tenant Board in support of legal steps being taken with respect to specific tenant cases.

What you’ll need

• Post-secondary education or experience in fields such as property management, operations, asset management or in a relevant discipline.
• Certified Property / Facility Management designation is an asset.
• Minimum of 5 years of experience (7 preferred) providing service delivery of day-to-day building maintenance/property management activities within a multi-residential property management provider, serving marginalized communities.
• Minimum of 2 years in a supervisory or managerial role. This includes, but is not limited to experience in motivating, coaching and developing a team providing service delivery of day-to-day building maintenance activities in large residential buildings.
• Demonstrated business operations experience involving managing large budgets, developing metrics and standards, and aligning standards to work breakdown structures
• Strong attention to detail to maintenance issues (ex: falling ceiling tiles, chips in a wall, dents in a door, baseboards damaged, etc.) and sense of urgency to fix issues before the problems worsen
• Ability to understand and differentiate when a repair can be done by a Super or CMP1 and when to call a vendor to for semi-skilled repair.
• Strong knowledge of maintenance repairs, including knowing the right people to call to do the work and the number of hours it will be taken to get the repairs done.
• Proficient in strategic planning, development of business plans, creation of needs analyses, implementation of process improvements to improve maintenance of our units/buildings and to deliver superior tenant service.
• Commitment to providing high quality tenant/customer service.
• Ability to communicate effectively with a diverse tenant population in difficult situations and resolve sensitive issues.
• Ability to understand complex tenancies and the issues that affect those with social and economic vulnerability, diverse in age, race, sexual orientation, culture, and ability.
• Strong listening, verbal communication, writing, conflict resolution and presentation skills.
• Knowledge of applicable legislation including Residential Tenancies Act, Occupational Health & Safety Act, Human Rights Code, Ontario Building Code, Fire Code, Labour Relations Act, Social Housing Reform Act, etc.
• G-License and own vehicle is an asset to travel to various buildings.
• Ability to communicate in a second language is an asset.

What’s next

Once you apply, we’ll review your resume and contact you if we believe your skills and experience will make you successful in the role. If you are selected to move forward, the process will include one or more interviews and/or assessments and reference checks.

Please note: This temporary position may be extended or become permanent in order to meet business needs. If this occurs, the position may not be reposted.

Thank you for your interest in Toronto Community Housing

We recognize that people bring experience and talent that goes beyond the technical skills and requirements of a job. If you possess similar experience that is close to what we’ve included in the job postings below, we encourage you to consider applying. We strongly believe that diverse experience, transferable skills, and passion are key!

Once you have submitted your application successfully, you will receive a confirmation email. We encourage you to check out our careers page often, as new opportunities become available on a regular basis.

Our commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion

We are committed to providing equal opportunity to all employees and strive to create a diverse workplace that reflects the cultural mosaic of our great city and the communities we serve. We recognize the value that comes from different viewpoints, unique experiences and diverse perspectives of our employees, who bring fresh, new ideas to our business. Diversity plays a key role in our ability to deliver on our mission to provide clean, safe, well-maintained, affordable homes for tenants.

TCHC is committed to diversity and inclusion within its community and encourages applications from Indigenous peoples, racialized persons/persons of colour, persons with disabilities, women, 2SLGBTQ+ persons, and others who can help us provide vibrant communities and make our city a great place to live. In an effort to ensure access to information for people with disabilities, we have noticed that some screen readers do not function properly with our job portal. If you are a person with a disability and are experiencing issues with our job portal and would like access to our job postings in an alternative format, please email your request to our People and Culture Division at [email protected].

Accessibility for applicants

Toronto Community Housing is committed to equity in employment. Our goal is a diverse, inclusive, and barrier-free workplace that reflects the communities we serve.

We will provide reasonable accommodation to applicants with disabilities at all stages of the hiring process in accordance with the Ontario Human Rights Code, the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, 2005, and Toronto Community Housing’s Accessibility Policy.

If you are a person with a disability and need the job posting in an alternative format or any other accessible accommodations during the hiring process, please email your request to our People & Culture department at [email protected] or call our accessible accommodations line at (416) 981 - 4119. Please refer to the job requisition number when you contact us.

We use AI technology through the use of pre-screening questions to assist in the screening process.