Everyone needs a place to live, and people who work in social housing and property management can help them find a home. Working in this area can involve various tasks and require different skills, but they all help to deal with one of the most basic human needs: affordable shelter.

People live in all kinds of homes, including houses, apartments, houses, and condominiums. Some of these homes can be very expensive, but social housing homes are designed for people with very little money to spend on rent. Managers who work in social housing help to make sure that people with low-income have a chance to live in a good home.

For this kind of job, people usually get a university degree in an area like social work or even history or psychology. Having a background in business management can also be useful in property management, although educational requirements vary. Salaries for people working in social housing can also vary a lot. Some organizations pay about $40,000 or less per year for managing social housing, but others pay close to $100,000. However, working with social service organizations usually means having a fairly low salary. A lot of organizations that provide help to those who need housing are non-profit.

Property management outside the social housing field often has a similar range of salaries. Generally, the wages are between about $32,000 and about $76,000 per year, but it depends on where the job is located and the company. Another factor that affects people’s pay is commission. Property managers often receive a percentage of the profits from the buildings they care for. A very successful property manager could earn large amounts in commission, but it depends on many factors, such as the state of the economy and housing market.

Many jobs in social housing are connected to an organization or a government, but a large number of property managers outside this field work on their own. This can allow them a lot of freedom to decide on their own hours and working conditions, but it also means that they have to deal with all of the problems themselves. Whether they deal with single-family homes or apartment blocks, they need to know how to solve a variety of issues.

Housing seems like it should be a simple thing to manage, but it can raise many questions, whether in social housing or the regular market. With apartment blocks, for example, there could be major repairs or complaints about the cleanliness of the building. Tenants might complain when their rent goes up, and they might ask for additional parking spaces or better air conditioning or many other things. Although most buildings also have a caretaker or resident manager to take care of these needs, the property manager might also need to deal with people’s complaints.

One of the main requirements for people working in any kind of property management is the ability to solve problems. The issues might be leaky water pipes, tenants who refuse to pay their rent, or decaying apartment blocks. Working in social housing or other branches of property management might not be able to depend on regular hours or a quiet job, but it can be a rewarding career.

Bibliography:

Indeed.com. “Social Housing Jobs.” https://ca.indeed.com/Social-Housing-jobs

Learningpath.org.  “A Property Management Career: Pros and Cons.” http://learningpath.org/articles/Property_Manager_Career_Overview.html

Payscale Canada. “Property Manager Salary.” https://www.payscale.com/research/CA/Job=Property_Manager/Salary.

Toronto Community Housing. “Why Work Here.” https://www.torontohousing.ca/careers/Pages/Why-work-here.aspx.