“I still go back to the farming and where you were brought up,” says Daffy, who grew up on a ranch in the Medicine Hat area, raising cattle and growing wheat.  “If somebody needs a hand, you go help them. It gets returned tenfold over.”

“Workforce housing isn’t a term we coined or created, but our business model is focused on it,” says Jason Jogia, Chief Investment Officer for Avenue Living Asset Management, which owns and operates more than 8,000 multi-family rental residences across many Western Canadian markets.

With more than 8,000 residential rental units across Western Canada, the Call Centre could be considered the heart of Avenue Living Communities. Recently, significant changes in Call Centre operations have upgraded the service to prospective customers looking for information to rent one of the company’s units.

Economic realities like rising interest rates and the stricter mortgage stress test are making it tougher for Canadians to purchase homes these days, causing renting to become a much more desirable option.

 That scenario has benefited Calgary-based Avenue Living Asset Management which holds an 8,000+ residential rental unit portfolio in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba.

After several years as a facilities manager, Ali Sebbahi’s new focus will be even larger:  Regional Construction Manager. “If there’s a bigger job to be done like siding, parking lots, common areas or suite renovations where they need lots of work and we’re hiring a third-party contractor, that’s where I step in.”